Sitharaman calls AI a ‘double-edged sword’, urges soft-touch regulation and faster digital rupee push

Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman called artificial intelligence a “double-edged sword” that could strengthen fraud detection but also enable sophisticated attacks, as she urged regulators to explore a soft-touch framework for emerging technologies, step up coordination and accelerate the Reserve Bank of India’s digital rupee initiative.

Speaking at the Global Fintech Fest 2026, Sitharaman warned that agentic AI, which can autonomously execute actions, could amplify operational and systemic risks because errors, fraud and market shocks could spread at machine speed.