Top officials from the Interior, Defense, Power, Electronics and Information Technology (MEITY) ministries on Thursday explained to the Congressional Standing Committee on Communications and IT, outlining preparations for the rapid emergence of artificial intelligence (AI), people said.
Meity has presented to the Indian AI Mission and the broader development committee in the past, one of the first sessions where the Home, Defense and Power Ministry was specifically asked to explain the AI strategy. These included measures taken by the government to prevent AI-driven harm, people said.
“The committee was keen to understand how various government weapons are approaching AI, how they are being used, how they are protected, what future plans are,” said the person requesting anonymity.
In the three-hour meeting, the ministry described how AI was adopting and improving internal functionality, flagging growing risks such as cybersecurity threats, deepfakes and social media misuse.
Authorities also answered questions from committee members about the role of AI in combating cyber fraud and false alarms, particularly as deepfakes become more difficult to detect and are used more widely in fraud, the people above said.
The panel has held a series of such reviews over the past few months, and has invited representatives from the financial sector to present AI preparations a few months ago. According to one staff member, the committee regularly searches for written responses from stakeholders and uses these meetings to follow up more detailed inquiries.
Apart from AI, Wednesday's meeting also included reviewing and adopting a report of the draft on the post division, telecommunications, information, broadcasting, and the government's response to the committee's previous recommendations on 2024-25 budget allocation for Meity.
