Japan’s New AI Law: Promoting Innovation

1. In May 2025, Japan passed a key law called the Act on the Promotion of Research, Development and Utilisation of Artificial Intelligence-Related Technologies.
2. Japan's clear goal is to make AI the basis for its economic growth and digital leadership.
3. This law shows a different way of thinking compared to other major global approaches to AI.

What is Japan's Unique Approach to AI Regulation?

1. While regions like the European Union (EU) are moving towards strict, risk-based AI rules, Japan's law chooses a path of cooperation and voluntary responsibility.
2. Contrast with EU's AI Act, 2024:
   1. The EU focuses on strict rules and enforcement.
      • Classifies AI into different risk levels ("Unacceptable" to "Minimal").
      • Places legally binding obligations on AI developers, especially for high-risk uses (e.g., health, education, law enforcement).
      • Penalties for not following rules are high.
   2. Japan focuses on enabling innovation and cooperation.
      • Does not create binding rules or define risk categories.
      • Avoids creating strict enforcement systems.
3. Japan's Structure:
   1. Creates an Artificial Intelligence Strategy Headquarters under the Cabinet.
   2. This Headquarters will create and carry out a national Basic Plan for AI.
   3. This plan covers everything from basic research to putting AI into use in industries, international cooperation, and public education.

What are the Core Principles and Strengths of Japan's Model?

1. Focus on Development: The law sees AI as crucial for societal development, economic growth, government efficiency, and national security.
2. Government's Role: The state takes responsibility for:
   1. Helping with AI research.
   2. Creating shared infrastructure for AI.
   3. Supporting workforce development (training people for AI jobs).
   4. Ensuring transparency and ethical behavior in using AI.
3. Cooperative Roles:
   1. Local governments, universities, research bodies, businesses, and even the public are given roles to cooperate under the new law's basic principles.
4. Guidelines, Not Hard Rules:
   1. Article 13 of the Act states the government's duty to create guidelines that follow international standards and prevent harm like misuse, privacy breaches, or intellectual property violations.
   2. However, it does not create strict laws or penalties.
5. Strengths of the New Rules:
   1. No "Chilling Effect": Avoids slowing down AI development that often comes with too many rules.
   2. Innovation-First Ecosystem: Promotes an environment where AI can grow in all sectors (government and private) without early legal or bureaucratic hurdles.
   3. Facilitator, Not Regulator: Signals that the government aims to help AI grow, not just control it.

International Alignment and Other Global Models International Cooperation: Article 17 of Japan's law requires the state to actively join international cooperation and set global standards. Global Efforts: Similar cooperation is happening in AI under groups like the G7 Hiroshima Process, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), and the UN’s AI advisory body. Japan aims to lead in these discussions. Balancing Act: Japan will need to balance its innovation-first approach with a willingness to set clear "guardrails" (safety limits) as global standards emerge. Other Countries' Approaches: U.S.: Moving towards clearer laws like the AI Disclosure Act. Aims to define agency roles, ensure transparency in AI training data, and protect national security. Seeks a balance between innovation and oversight. UAE: Has an Office of Artificial Intelligence, a national AI university, and industry "AI sandbox" programs. Combines government investment with targeted rules, being flexible and business-friendly.

 

What are the Challenges Associated with Japan's AI Approach?

1. Japan’s AI law relies on voluntary compliance and lacks strict rules or penalties.
2. This can lead to harmful or unethical AI use being ignored, especially in sensitive areas like healthcare or defense.
3. Without enforcement, public trust may weaken and victims may not get proper help.
4. It is unclear who is responsible when AI causes problems, as the law does not clearly assign liability.
5. People may lose confidence in AI protections if high-profile issues arise and guidelines seem weak.
6. Transparency and clear remedies are important but hard to ensure without strong enforcement.
7. Japan’s soft approach differs from stricter global models like the EU’s risk-based rules.
8. Japan may face pressure to adopt tougher laws to keep up with international AI governance standards.

Way Forward

1. Introduce clear rules and penalties to report and fix AI harms, especially in sensitive areas like healthcare and defense.
2. Define who is responsible when AI causes problems, with clear legal duties for developers and users.
3. Require transparency in AI decisions and provide easy ways for people to seek help if harmed.
4. Balance innovation with safety limits that follow international standards to protect citizens without stopping progress.
5. Increase cooperation with global AI groups to align Japan’s laws with international rules and lead in AI governance.

 

India’s AI Revolution: A Roadmap to Viksit Bharat India aims to become a global leader in AI, ensuring inclusive growth. AI is viewed as a transformative “intelligent utility” like electricity. The Union cabinet has also approved over Rs 10,300 crore for IndiaAI Mission to strengthen Artificial Intelligence (AI) Innovation Ecosystem. Through initiatives like the AI Ethical Certification Project and Privacy Enhancing Strategy Project, India is working to ensure AI fairness and privacy preservation, with the long-term goal of leveraging AI for social good in sectors like healthcare, education, and agriculture. India’s #AIforAll Strategy : Indigenous GPU development planned within 3-5 years to reduce reliance on imports. Subsidized rate of 100 rupee per hour compared to global rates of $2.5–3 per hour. Construction of 5 semiconductor plants to support AI innovation and strengthen India’s electronics sector. Development of a high-performance computing facility with 18,693 GPUs (one of the largest globally). 10,000 GPUs already available, more to be added soon for indigenous AI solutions. Launch of open GPU marketplace for startups, researchers, and students. Advancing AI with Open Data and Centres of Excellence (CoE) IndiaAI Dataset Platform launched for access to non-personal, anonymised datasets. Reducing barriers to AI innovation with large-scale datasets for sectors like agriculture, weather forecasting, and traffic management. Centres of Excellence (CoE): 3 established in Healthcare, Agriculture, and Sustainable Cities. 4th CoE announced for AI in Education (₹500 crore budget). Skilling initiatives: Five National Centres of Excellence for Skilling to equip youth with AI industry skills in collaboration with global partners. India’s AI Models & Language Technologies Development of indigenous foundational AI models (LLMs, SLMs) tailored to India’s needs. Key initiatives include: Digital India BHASHINI: Language translation platform for Indian languages (voice-based). BharatGen: Multimodal LLM to enhance public services. Sarvam-1: AI model supporting 10 major Indian languages for translation, summarisation, and content generation. Chitralekha: Open-source video transcreation platform for Indic languages. Hanooman’s Everest 1.0: Supports 35 Indian languages, expanding to 90.

 

Ensure IAS Mains Question: Q. Discuss India’s balanced approach towards AI regulation in the context of promoting innovation and addressing ethical concerns. What steps should India take to ensure global leadership in AI while safeguarding public trust and accountability? (250 Words)

 

Ensure IAS MCQ: Q. With reference to India’s AI initiatives, consider the following statements: The IndiaAI Mission has been allocated over Rs 1200 crore to boost AI innovation and ecosystem development. The IndiaAI Mission has set a timeline to roll out the first prototype of a homegrown GPU by the end of 2025, with full-scale production targeted by 2029. Centres of Excellence have been established in sectors including Healthcare, Agriculture, Sustainable Cities, and Education. Which of the statements given above is/are correct? 1 only 1 and 2 only 2 and 3 only 1,2 and 3 only Answer: C Explanation: Rs 10,300 crore is allocated to the IndiaAI Mission not 1200 crore. Hence, statement 1 is not correct. The IndiaAI Mission has set a timeline to roll out the first prototype of a homegrown GPU by the end of 2025, with full-scale production targeted by 2029.  Hence, statement 2 is correct. Centres of Excellence are established in Healthcare, Agriculture, Sustainable Cities, and Education sectors. Hence, statement 3 is correct. Thus, option C is correct.