India Unveils AI Governance Blueprint, Moves to Require Labels on Synthetic Content

Overview

• The published guidelines prioritize sector-specific regulation over an immediate standalone AI law and set out six pillars spanning infrastructure, risk, accountability, policy, institutions and capacity building.
• Draft amendments to the IT Rules would mandate user declarations, platform verification, visible labels and embedded metadata for AI-generated material, with safe-harbour protections at risk for platforms that do not comply.
• The framework proposes a new architecture featuring an AI Governance Group, a Technology & Policy Expert Committee and an AI Safety Institute to coordinate oversight and technical evaluation.
• Legal experts and industry participants dispute whether AI developers fit the IT Act’s intermediary definition and who bears liability for outputs, with arguments ranging from user-led responsibility to shared obligations for hybrid platforms.
• Internal government discussions flag privacy and inference risks from officials’ use of generative AI, including concerns about reliance on foreign services.