Mumbai, Oct 13 (IANS) India is taking a very smart approach to regulation when it comes to artificial intelligence (AI), regulating to the point where they are not stifling innovation and investment, Sandip Patel, MD, IBM India and South Asia, said on Tuesday, adding that AI governance is very, very critical at this crucial juncture.
Speaking to IANS on the sidelines of the ‘IBM Think 2026’ conference here, Patel said this balanced approach will continue for a while as AI technology evolves.
“I think the bigger question that we should be asking ourselves is how do we drive digital sovereignty? And the issue of sovereignty, it’s not just an India issue; it’s global,” he said.
For Patel, digital sovereignty means ‘Digital Swaraj’.
“I think it’s important, both from an AI and infrastructure standpoint. You have to maintain a level of sovereignty that is aligned to the regulations that you are governed by as an enterprise, but also the kinds of workloads that you are, in fact, working with,” he said.
The government plans to bring out a consultation paper on AI regulations soon, with a key focus on ensuring AI safety and curbing the danger posed by deepfakes. The consultation paper will focus on skilling, safety, and ensuring that no one is left behind as the AI technology advances.
According to Union Electronics and IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, AI cannot be governed through legislation alone and “We have to bring a techno-legal solution”.
Patel said that data provenance, data accuracy, whether you are using data that you are supposed to use, you are being clear about how you are using that data — this all comes with governance.
“Model governance is also the key, which means what models are you using, when are you using it. Are you updating the models? Is your model relevant for what you are trying to use it for? Those are all questions that come into model governance,” said Patel.
And then overall AI governance, which basically gets into things around transparency.
“Do you have transparency in terms of how your models are being used by AI? What data are you using and all the rest of it. But most importantly, the explainability of outcomes. Can you explain your outcomes? Or are you letting your models hallucinate and do whatever they want? All of these components create governance modules for AI,” Patel noted.
He said they are proud of what they have created as AI governance, because it’s now validated in the market, particularly in India where Infosys was trying to build their own.
“They had started to build their own governance model. When they saw what we had, they abandoned that, and they adopted our WatsonX.gov. And they are using it now, not only for internal work, but also for clients. And this is something which is being proliferating also,” Patel told IANS.
–IANS
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