Ministries brief House panel on AI readiness

The committee has been keen to understand how different arms of the government are approaching AI, how it is being used, what safeguards are in place, and what are the plans for the future

Senior officials from the ministries of home affairs, defence, power, and electronics and information technology (MeitY) on Thursday briefed the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Communications and IT, outlining their preparedness around the rapid emergence of artificial intelligence (AI), people aware of the matter said.

The three-hour meeting saw ministries detail how they were adopting AI to improve internal functioning. (Representative file photo)

While MeitY has made presentations to the committee in the past on India AI Mission and broader developments in the sector, this was one of the first sessions where the home, defence, and power ministries were specifically asked to explain their AI strategies. These included measures being taken by the government to prevent AI-led harms, the people said.

“The committee has been keen to understand how different arms of the government are approaching AI, how it is being used, what safeguards are in place, and what are the plans for the future,” a person, requesting anonymity, said.

The three-hour meeting saw ministries detail how they were adopting AI to improve internal functioning while also flagging growing risks such as cybersecurity threats, deepfakes, and the misuse of social media.

Officials also responded to questions from committee members about the role of AI in countering cyber fraud and misinformation, especially as deepfakes become harder to detect and more widely used in scams, the people cited above said.

The panel has been holding a series of such reviews over the past few months, having invited representatives from the financial sector to present their AI readiness a couple of months ago. According to one official, the committee routinely seeks written responses from stakeholders and uses these meetings to follow up with more detailed inquiries.

Apart from AI, Wednesday’s meeting also included the review and adoption of draft reports on the government’s response to the committee’s earlier recommendations regarding the 2024-25 budget allocations for the departments of posts, telecommunications, information and broadcasting, and the MeitY.