GOVERNING ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE IN INDIA: LEGAL CHALLENGES, REGULATORY GAPS AND THE PATH TO ACCOUNTABLE INNOVATION

Artificial Intelligence (AI) has transitioned from a specialized computational technology into an integral facet of economic activity, public administration, communication, employment, healthcare and education and digital platforms. The fast implementation of Artificial Intelligence, through generative and algorithmic systems has given rise to legal concerns involving privacy, consumer protection, accountability. In India, these concerns occur in a regulatory, blending constitutional safeguards, the Information Technology Act, 2000, the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021, the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023, intellectual property legislation, sectoral regulation and nascent government initiatives. The regulatory milieu has been dynamic evolving with the Digital Personal Data Protection Rules, 2025 and amendment to the Information Technology Rules concerning synthetically generated information. This paper evaluates whether India's existing and how recent legal framework manages the challenges presented by AI. Through adopting a doctrinal and analytical approach, it reviews the provisions of statutes, constitutional principles, judicial verdicts, regulatory developments, government policy documents and relevant comparative perspectives. The paper argues that the major impediment of India lies not in a comprehensive, AI-dedicated statute, but the disjointed nature of existing legal mechanisms and difficulty of allocating accountability between developers, deployers, platforms and users. The paper explores the issues of privacy data protection, intellectual property, AI generated content and the use of deepfakes, algorithmic discrimination. To conclude the paper explores a coordinated, risk-oriented and rights focused on governance of framework underpinned by the principles of transparency, human oversight, accountability and institutional coordination.