Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla today drew attention to the growing challenges posed by deepfakes and misinformation and described these as serious threats to democracy.Addressing a session “AI for Democracy” at the India AI Summit, Birla emphasised that artificial intelligence (AI) must be used to strengthen truth and credibility, not to distort or suppress facts.He stressed the need for developing robust safeguards alongside technological advancements to protect democratic discourse from manipulation and confusion.Birla noted that that AI had the potential to make democracy more transparent, accountable and citizen-centric and said welfare and happiness of all was India’s mantra for AI.India, he noted, works with the spirit of global wellbeing, rooted in its enduring civilizational values. Highlighting the transformative role of technology in legislative functioning, the Speaker observed that AI was emerging as a significant tool for strengthening democratic institutions.He mentioned “Digital Parliament” initiative to say the Lok Sabha was simplifying communication between citizens and Parliament, bridging digital and information divide in a diverse country like India.He added that under the Digital Parliament initiative, parliamentary proceedings have been made paperless, modern and environmentally sustainable. With the help of AI tools, thousands of hours of parliamentary debates and records have been systematically organised and made easily searchable and accessible to the public.This, he emphasised, enhances transparency and enables citizens to closely monitor the performance of their elected representatives, thereby increasing accountability.Referring to India’s linguistic diversity, the Speaker underlined the importance of the “Sansad Bhashini” initiative, through which parliamentary debates are being made available in multiple regional languages using AI-enabled translation tools.