India is developing a domestic framework to govern the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in its defence establishment, with safeguards built around the principles of reliability, safety and transparency, according to a statement delivered at the United Nations General Assembly in New York on 22 October 2026. The disclosure comes as militaries across the world accelerate AI adoption and international pressure mounts for binding norms.

India's AI Trustworthiness Framework

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Lok Sabha member Kamaljeet Sehrawat, representing West Delhi, told the General Assembly's First Committee on disarmament that India has developed a domestic mechanism for evaluating the trustworthiness of AI systems deployed in defence. The framework, she said, rests on three pillars: reliability, safety, and transparency.

This positions India among a small group of countries that have moved beyond policy declarations toward structured institutional assessment of military AI. Notably, India was also a co-sponsor of the first-ever UN informal exchanges on AI in the military domain, held in June 2026 in Geneva. Those exchanges were convened pursuant to a UN General Assembly resolution passed in December 2025, which called for dialogue on 'artificial intelligence in the military domain and its implications for international peace and security.'

India's Commitments Under the CCW

Sehrawat also addressed India's obligations under the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons (CCW), which governs armaments deemed to cause excessive injury or indiscriminate harm. India has acceded to all five protocols of the Convention.

Under the Second Protocol, which covers land mines and improvised explosive devices (IEDs), India has fulfilled its commitments, including the non-production of non-detectable mines and ensuring all anti-personnel mines are made detectable. India accords 'high priority' to IED threat mitigation and victim assistance under this protocol, Sehrawat said, noting that the protocol provides a framework for addressing IEDs 'often deployed by terrorists and illegal armed groups.'

Clearing War Remnants and Victim Assistance

India is a signatory to Protocol V of the CCW, which deals with clearing explosive remnants of war. Sehrawat described India as 'deeply conscious of the humanitarian harm caused by explosive remnants of war.'

In a tangible demonstration of that commitment, India has run over 30 limb fitment camps in recent years, fitting more than 15,000 artificial limbs across several countries for victims of conflict-related explosive remnants, she said. This record of outreach reinforces India's push to be seen as a responsible stakeholder in global humanitarian disarmament efforts.

The Broader Context

India's twin moves — building a domestic AI evaluation framework and engaging in multilateral disarmament forums — reflect a broader strategic calculus. As geopolitical rivals integrate AI into command-and-control, surveillance, and autonomous weapons systems, New Delhi is seeking to demonstrate both technological readiness and normative responsibility. This comes amid intensifying UN-level debate over whether voluntary guidelines or a binding treaty should govern lethal autonomous weapons.

With the First Committee's session ongoing and several major military powers resisting legally binding instruments, India's positioning as a co-sponsor of dialogue — rather than a blocker — could strengthen its voice in shaping any eventual international norms framework.