In 2017, the Ministry of Commerce and Industry established The Task Force on AI (AI Task Force), to provide strategic direction and suggestions for the growth and deployment of artificial intelligence (AI) in India. The AI Task Force released its report titled “India: The AI Century” in 2018 which summarizes a roadmap for India’s AI strategy and its development. Further, NITI Aayog, the government’s policy think-tank, launched the “National Strategy for AI Discussion Paper” in 2018, soliciting public opinions and feedback. The paper outlined a comprehensive strategy for India to become a global leader in AI. It emphasized the need for regulatory frameworks to address ethical concerns and data privacy issues associated with AI.
Further in Feb 2021 NITI AYOG came up with “Approach Document for India Part 1 – Principles for Responsible AI” meant to serve as an essential roadmap for the AI ecosystem, encouraging adoption of AI in a responsible manner in India and building public trust in the use of this technology. In August 2021 “Approach Document For India: Part 2 – Operationalizing Principles For Responsible AI” was released.This document identifies the various mechanisms needed for operationalizing the seven principles identified in part 1 for responsible design, development, and deployment of artificial intelligence (AI) in India.
In May 2022, the government of India launched IndiaAI platform for artificial intelligence related developments in India. It is known as the National AI Portal of India, which was jointly started by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), the National e-Governance Division (NeGD) and the National Association of Software and Service Companies (NASSCOM) with support from the Department of School Education and Literacy (DoSE&L) and Ministry of Human Resource Development. In the series of its publication on Responsible Artificial Intelligence (RAI), NITI Aayog in November 2022 came up with the third paper titled “Responsible AI for All: Adopting the Framework – A use case approach on Facial Recognition Technology.” The discussion paper debates around the potential benefits of FRT in different sectors and also tends to address the risks it poses to basic human and fundamental rights. In October 2023 , Seven working groups of the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) submitted the First Edition of IndiaAI Report .