India’s External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar called for strong AI regulation, safeguards and clear accountability at the Bloomberg New Economy Forum, arguing that rules are needed to prevent misuse and ensure AI is developed responsibly. In an exchange with Bloomberg Editor-in-Chief John Micklethwait, he urged a people-centric approach that considers how AI will be used in everyday life and how those uses will affect people.

Jaishankar said AI has no close parallel among earlier technologies, including nuclear technology. Nuclear technology had limited users, he said, while AI will be far more pervasive, affect everyday life more broadly and give everyone a stake. He described AI as “the mother of all technologies that we know so far.”

He said discussion tends to focus on immediate technical and financial needs: computing power, semiconductor chips, energy, water and funding. AI leaders, he argued, give less attention to how the technology will ultimately be applied to people. Jaishankar said there was broad agreement in India that AI needs regulation and guardrails, alongside a more serious debate about responsibility. He did not outline specific rules or a regulatory proposal at the forum, according to the report; his remarks called for safeguards and accountability without setting out how they should be implemented or who would enforce them. The report did not describe a formal policy announcement or a timeline for regulation.

India’s External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar called for strong AI regulation, safeguards and clear accountability at the Bloomberg New Economy Forum, arguing that rules are needed to prevent misuse and ensure AI is developed responsibly. In an exchange with Bloomberg Editor-in-Chief John Micklethwait, he urged a people-centric approach that considers how AI will be used in everyday life and how those uses will affect people.

Jaishankar said AI has no close parallel among earlier technologies, including nuclear technology. Nuclear technology had limited users, he said, while AI will be far more pervasive, affect everyday life more broadly and give everyone a stake. He described AI as “the mother of all technologies that we know so far.”

He said discussion tends to focus on immediate technical and financial needs: computing power, semiconductor chips, energy, water and funding. AI leaders, he argued, give less attention to how the technology will ultimately be applied to people. Jaishankar said there was broad agreement in India that AI needs regulation and guardrails, alongside a more serious debate about responsibility. He did not outline specific rules or a regulatory proposal at the forum, according to the report; his remarks called for safeguards and accountability without setting out how they should be implemented or who would enforce them. The report did not describe a formal policy announcement or a timeline for regulation.