The Central government will soon introduce a separate law to regulate Artificial Intelligence (AI) in India. Discussions on a dedicated AI regulatory framework have already begun, and a draft policy is expected to be released soon.
Speaking on the issue, S. Krishnan, Secretary, Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) said, “Probably the time has come now to look at a separate legislation for AI. At the Ministry level, what we can do is prepare a draft regulation for AI.”
MeitY believes that the time has come to introduce separate laws and regulations for AI. According to the senior official, the provisions of the existing laws are insufficient to regulate all aspects of AI.
Speaking on the WhatsApp username issue, S. Krishnan said the government is concerned that the feature could make impersonation easier and encourage cybercrime.
“We have taken up the issue of using usernames because there is a serious possibility of impersonation and it facilitates committing cybercrime, which is a very serious issue. This is another dimension through which cybercrimes can be committed. That is why we have directed WhatsApp to explain why it has this feature. Similarly, we have sought explanations from others,” he said.
WhatsApp Username Controversy
The upcoming WhatsApp feature will let users create a unique username instead of sharing their phone number. While Meta says the feature is meant to improve privacy, the government fears it could lead to impersonation, phishing and other online scams.
WhatsApp has told the government that it has safeguards in place and that the feature is meant to improve privacy, not anonymity.
The government has also asked Telegram and Signal to explain their username features, as both apps already allow users to chat using usernames.