This regulation by the Indian government signifies a major step towards ensuring the responsible and transparent use of AI technology in the country
- New advisory Announced by Union IT Minister of India
NEW DELHI, India (AI Reporter/News): In a significant move aimed at regulating the deployment of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in India, Union Minister of State for Electronics & Information Technology, Rajeev Chandrasekhar, announced on March 2, 2024, that AI platforms must seek government approval before launching their products in the country.
India Advisory on AI Deployment
The government has issued an advisory ( second) directing all AI platforms to ensure compliance with immediate effect. The advisory, issued on February 29, 2024, mandates that intermediaries submit an action taken-cum-status report to the ministry within 15 days.
Chandrasekhar stated, “This helps platforms to be a lot more disciplined about taking their AI models on platforms from the lab directly to the market. We don’t want that to happen without guardrails, and disclaimers in place, so that the consumer knows what is unreliable”.
Generative AI is a recent innovation, and it might be too early for consumers and lawmakers to expect it to be perfect. Issues with Google’s generative AI product Gemini have sparked frustration over potential built-in bias.
The Government of India regards Artificial Intelligence as a significant invention and innovation in contemporary times. Artificial Intelligence has recently accelerated in growth and capabilities, indicating an inflection point in AI development. AI is considered a dynamic enabler for the digital economy, expected to further catalyze the digital economy goal.
On December 26, 2023, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) issued first advisory.
ANI Video interview of Rajeev Chandrasekhar revealed.
Here is full Text of ANI Video Message of Indian IT Minister:
“We had issued an advisory in December to deal with deep fakes and misinformation. And as you know, deep fakes are essentially misinformation powered by Al.
And yesterday evening we have issued one more advisory, which is a continuing advisory that places an obligation on all the advisors, rather intermediaries and platforms that use Al. Be very careful about deploying on the public Internet in India and allowing access to our Indian digital Nagariks.
Any platform that is still under training and still under trial. We wanted to advise them that just by saying that the platform is under testing or it is unreliable does not absolve them from the consequences of the law, especially the criminal law.
And so we have advised them today that any such platform must have labels that say that my platform is under testing and most importantly, must inform the consumer through a consent mechanism that this platform may output erroneous and unreliable information.
So that the situation that we have seen with platforms like Google Gemini, where they are clearly in violation of the law by outputting unlawful content, is not repeated. This advisory helps platforms to be a lot more disciplined about taking their Al models and platforms from the lab directly to the market.
We do not want that to happen without sufficient guardrails in place, information and disclaimers in place so that consumers know what is unreliable.”
Labelling AI-Generated Content
The government has also advised that AI-generated content should be labelled or embedded with a permanent unique metadata or identifier. This measure is intended to determine the creator or first originator of any misinformation or deepfake.
Error-Prone Models Under Testing
The minister further added, “If they want to deploy a model that is error-prone, they have to label it as under testing, take government permission and explicitly seek confirmation and consent of the user that it is an error-prone platform. They can’t come back later and say it is under testing…”
India’s Leap in Technology: Harnessing AI for National Development
On February 9, 2024, Rajeev Chandrasekhar, the Union Minister of State for Electronics & Information Technology, Government of India, conveyed to the Rajya Sabha, the Upper House of Parliament, a significant message of progress and vision. He stated, “Over the last nine years, India has emerged as a leading nation in the development of technologies aimed at enhancing and transforming the lives of its citizens. The Government is dedicated to leveraging the potential of Artificial Intelligence (AI) for the welfare of our people. There is a focused effort towards the rapid integration and application of AI across various sectors, including healthcare, agriculture, education, governance, Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI), and others, to ensure that the benefits of AI reach every corner of the country.”
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Shaping a Safe and Trustworthy AI Future
During the 26th Edition of the Bengaluru Tech Summit on Thursday, 30 November 2023, India’s Electronics & IT Minister, shared insights in a fireside chat with Smt Jaya Jagadish, Country Head, Senior Vice President, Silicon Design Engineering, AMD India. He emphasized the transformative potential of Artificial Intelligence (AI), stating, “We believe that AI, when harnessed correctly, can revolutionize sectors like healthcare, agriculture, governance, and language translation. Our aim is to capture the essence of AI by building capabilities and datasets, and by enhancing AI compute and training capacities. This effort is to create models that will support India’s ambition to improve lives and contribute to achieving the $1 trillion digital economy goal. Nonetheless, recent discussions have highlighted the necessity for safety and trust guardrails, aligning with India’s stance on the matter. While AI’s benefits are immense, it’s crucial to implement legislative measures to prevent its misuse and ensure it doesn’t fall into the hands of bad actors.”
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MeitY’s Earlier Advisory to Combat AI-Generated Misinformation and Deepfakes
On December 26, 2023, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) issued a critical advisory to all digital intermediaries, reinforcing the necessity for strict adherence to the existing Information Technology (IT) rules. This advisory was specifically aimed at tackling the escalating challenge of misinformation propagated through AI-generated deepfakes.
The directive obliges intermediaries to transparently and accurately inform users about the content prohibited under Rule 3(1)(b) of the IT Rules. This move was the result of comprehensive discussions led by Union Minister of State for Skill Development & Entrepreneurship, Electronics & IT, and Jal Shakti, Shri Rajeev Chandrasekhar, during the Digital India dialogues with intermediaries over the past month.
The advisory meticulously outlines that, “The content not permitted under the IT Rules, particularly those detailed under Rule 3(1)(b), must be communicated to the users in clear and precise language. This includes explicit mentions in terms of service, user agreements, and direct notifications to users at crucial interaction points such as first registration, each login, and during the uploading/sharing of information on the platform.”
Furthermore, the advisory stresses the importance of digital intermediaries making users aware of the penal consequences, as delineated in the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and the IT Act 2000, for any infringements of Rule 3(1)(b).
In the span of a month, Shri Rajeev Chandrasekhar conducted significant meetings with industry leaders to confront the urgent issue of deepfakes head-on. He underscored the imperative for all platforms and intermediaries to rigorously comply with the prevailing laws and regulations, highlighting the IT rules as a comprehensive framework to combat the threats posed by deepfakes effectively.
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India’s youth is moving forward to make its mark in every sector. They are revolutionizing the Indian startup ecosystem. They are also preparing India’s leadership for Industry 4.0 and giving new wings to Digital India.
Narendra Modi, Prime Minister of India
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India, being the fastest growing economy with the second largest population in the world, has a significant stake in the AI revolution. India is leading in AI adoption. According to a recent LinkedIn report, the number of Indian LinkedIn profiles that list Artificial Intelligence skills has surged fourteenfold over the last seven years. This significant increase positions India among the top five countries (Australia, Brazil, France, Germany, India) globally for emerging AI talent.
Key Takeaways
Recent advisory on AI underscores the India government commitment to safeguarding consumers and maintaining the integrity of the digital ecosystem.
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