India Explores ‘Law-To-Code’ Framework For AI-Era Compliance

New Delhi, May 20 (KNN) The government is exploring a ‘law-to-code’ framework to automate compliance with privacy and data protection laws as concerns grow over AI-driven cyber threats and the increasing complexity of regulatory enforcement.

According to officials, the proposed framework seeks to convert legal provisions into software code so that digital systems can automatically apply and enforce compliance requirements with minimal human intervention, reported Economic Times.

The initiative is being examined by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) amid growing concerns that rapidly advancing artificial intelligence models could make it more difficult for organisations to comply with India’s recently implemented data protection regulations.

MeitY Holds Consultations On AI Risks 

Over the past month, MeitY has reportedly held consultations with industry stakeholders to assess risks associated with advanced AI systems, including models such as Anthropic's Mythos.

Officials and cybersecurity experts involved in the discussions said AI-powered cyberattacks are increasingly capable of operating at machine speed, creating challenges for conventional compliance and governance systems.

“Since AI-powered cyberattacks can now operate at machine speed, governance also needs to be automated and applied at the same speed to counter such challenges,” a cybersecurity expert familiar with the policy deliberations said.

Framework Aims To Automate Privacy, Cybersecurity Enforcement 

The law-to-code approach aims to embed legal obligations directly into software systems, enabling automated monitoring, enforcement and compliance checks in areas such as data privacy, consent management and cybersecurity protocols.

Governments globally have started experimenting with similar models for administrative and regulatory functions. 

Countries such as France and New Zealand have already deployed law-to-code frameworks in calculation-intensive domains including taxation, welfare distribution and immigration management.

The discussions come as India continues to strengthen its digital governance architecture and implement the provisions of the Digital Personal Data Protection framework amid rapid growth in AI adoption across industries.

(KNN Bureau)