India: Adopted Complex Adaptive System Framework for AI Regulation

On 30 January 2024, the Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister of India (EAC-PM) outlined a novel framework for regulating artificial intelligence (AI) based on the principles of a complex adaptive system (CAS). The framework proposes five fundamental principles, namely establishing guardrails and partitions, mandating manual "overrides" and "authorisation chokepoints", ensuring transparency and explainability, defining clear lines of AI accountability, and creating a specialist regulator. This framework aims to address the challenges posed by the non-linear and unpredictable nature of AI and to ensure that AI development and deployment are conducted safely, ethically, and transparently. The regulators were guided by insights from regulating financial markets, characterized by complex adaptive systems and emergent behaviours. They highlight the importance of specialised oversight, transparency standards, control mechanisms, and personal accountability to ensure safety and ethical deployment, similar to the orderly functioning of financial markets.