Minister of Electronics and Information Technology Ashwini Vaishnaw on Tuesday said that in the time of advanced technology, the need is to create technological solutions as the law alone will not be sufficient for tackling the crimes of the new age, and a techno-legal approach will be required.

Delivering the 21st DP Kohli memorial lecture here on the occasion of Central Bureau of Investigation’s foundation day in New Delhi, Vaishnaw suggested that the central probe agency should collaborate with the academia and the industry in wake of the changing scenario due to the technology and Artificial Intelligence in domains like economic, social and technological fronts.

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The Union Minister asserted that the country’s academia, researchers and scientists today have a strength that needs to be harnessed by everybody, including the government departments, the probe agencies, and the law officers, so that technological solutions can be developed in this new world of technologies.

Vaishnaw noted that there is a change in things after the introduction of Artificial Intelligence (AI), and mentioned that if an AI agent commits a crime, then the question comes to who has committed the crime and whom to arrest. Who is going to be liable for the same, he asked.

Vashnaw said that when a country is growing at a rapid pace, change happens in the context of investigation also, and presently, a change in the mindset is required.

He said that the central probe agency must collaborate with startups, industry, and work in the development of new tools to aid the investigation.

He said for example, the government is collaborating with academia to build new tools, and he mentioned an institution in Rajasthan that created a tool to detect deep-fakes.

Similarly, Vaishnaw mentioned that IIT Delhi is working on a technology to develop an algorithm for the prediction of extreme heat waves in the country.

The minister expressed the need for creating cyber forensic laboratories by partnering with concerned institutions.

He said that structures of institutions must be created between the MEITY, Department of Science and Technology, and the investigation agencies, which will further help in developing these technologies.