“We will be issuing a consultation paper in the coming weeks,” said Ashwini Vaishnaw, Union Minister of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), at the NDTV World Summit 2026. He was referring to the draft consultation paper on AI regulations that the Minister had announced a few weeks ago.

On October 8, while speaking at the launch of the World Development Report 2026, Vaishnaw announced that MeitY would release the draft consultation paper within a month. This suggests that the draft AI regulations could be released in November, possibly early in the month.

However, it is not yet clear whether the Ministry is planning a new, dedicated AI law, as suggested by Vaishnaw himself during an interview with the Press Trust of India, or whether the upcoming draft AI regulations will be introduced under the existing Information Technology Act, 2000.

“It’s a very complex topic. Certain things have been done under the IT Act framework. But I do think that there is a requirement for a new law because the world of AI is very different from the world when the IT Act was enacted in 2000.” – Ashwini Vaishnaw. (June 2026)

He also stated that the Ministry had already consulted the tech industry and that, through the upcoming consultations, it would seek feedback from “civil society, citizens, and industry stakeholders.”

Here is the timestamped YouTube link to Vaishnaw’s remarks on AI regulations. 

VIDEO

The following is what Ashwini Vaishnaw said at the summit, lightly edited for clarity and brevity:

On different approaches to AI regulation: “There are two thought processes globally. One thought process is that this is an emerging technology—AI is something which has just started happening in the last five or six years. Of course, industrial AI has been there since 2000; consumer AI has come only in recent times.”

“Another thought process is that if we let this technology evolve sufficiently, then only we should bring regulation.”

“Then there is this European thought process where any innovation you put, a kind of swat it, don’t let the innovation grow.”

“Our bias has always been more towards innovation; simultaneously, we should look at keeping our citizens safe. We have given enough thought to it, we have consulted the industry. Today the time has come when the risks of AI have crossed a threshold. We should come up with a new regulation where the harms from the new technology can be regulated. Having said that, we are already working on it.”

AI regulation should involve global collaboration, as with the nuclear industry: “I also feel that in the digital world the physical boundaries do not exist. So in this digital world, any initiative that you take has to be globally aligned. My sense is, my understanding is that like the nuclear industry where globally the people came around, they came, they sat on a table and agreed on certain principles, basis which the nuclear industry will be governed, similar thought process will emerge in AI also where the global giants, they will sit together, all of us will sit together—people like us who are among the top three or top four AI ecosystems in the world, countries like us—will all sit together and come up with some fundamental principles by which AI has to be judged.”

“The race towards innovation has to be moderated by the safety of human beings. Some principles have already got established now: it has to be human first, AI has to be human centric; it has to make sure that the control over the agents, the control over the models, the control over the outcome which happens, control over the processes has to be in human hands; there has to be some equivalent of stopping things if they go out of control. Those things, those principles have already come.” – Ashwini Vaishnaw

When Rahul Kanwal, the editor-in-chief and host of the discussion, asked, “Where are you at in terms of drafting? When will we see this new law?”, Vaishnaw responded, “We will be issuing a consultation paper in the coming weeks.” He also stated that the Ministry would “seek all the inputs from civil society, from citizens, and from industry stakeholders.”

“AI has been adopted very aggressively by our industry. When we talk to the banks, manufacturing industries, service industries, finance, insurance, and financial services, everywhere people are rapidly using AI. So there is a good understanding of what good AI can bring, and there is also an understanding of what harms AI can do. That understanding is today in various sectors, and we would like to get the inputs from each of these sectors. We have discussed a lot with the tech companies; now we need to discuss with the stakeholders who are users of AI.” – Ashwini Vaishnaw

AI models should be treated as ‘potential insider threats’, says Microsoft’s head of cybersecurity: “We recognize we need to treat models as potential insider threats, that agents can take unauthorized action, and we need to make sure that we clearly control what we allow them access to, that we monitor them, and that we have safety breaks in place for it,” said Nicholas Batsia, head of cybersecurity at Microsoft.

He was responding to Kanwal’s question about what he would recommend to the Minister regarding AI regulation. When asked how he would like the regulations to be framed, Batsia said that he “would never presume to suggest to the minister how to conduct policy.” “I think the minister is more than capable,” he added.  

RTI filed: MediaNama has filed an RTI application seeking the minutes, records of discussions, or meeting notes from MeitY’s consultations with the tech industry concerning AI regulations. We also sought copies of calendar entries, invitations, agendas, or attendance records identifying the dates of these consultations and the participating organisations. We will publish a new copy if we hear back from the Ministry.

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