Stringent regulations could hinder growth of AI in India: experts
- As India grapples with the regulatory landscape for artificial intelligence (AI), a sector which has seen rapid development in recent years, experts opine that strict regulations could stifle the country’s burgeoning AI-driven economy.
Highlights:
- Currently, India does not have specific laws directly addressing generative AI, such as deep fakes.
- It has instead introduced a series of advisories and guidelines to encourage the responsible development and implementation of AI technologies.
- After several “deepfake” video clips went viral on social media platforms,
- The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) asked social media intermediaries to take such content down within 36 hours, a requirement outlined in the IT Rules, 2021.
Plea in court
- The Delhi High Court asked the Centre to respond to a public interest litigation (PIL) plea against the unregulated use of AI and deep fakes.
- Deepfake videos utilize AI to swap the likeness of a person in an existing video with someone else’s.
- Recently, concerns have grown around deepfake technology, as it can produce highly realistic fake videos that may be misused for spreading misinformation, creating fake news, or generating false narratives.
- The petition said while technological development was happening by leaps and bounds, the law was moving at a snail’s pace.
- the MeitY on March 1 issued an advisory saying that all generative AI products, such as large language models on the lines of ChatGPT and Google’s Gemini, would have to be made available “with explicit permission of the Government of India” if they are “under-testing/ unreliable”.
- However, after the advisory came under criticism from experts for being ambiguous,
- MeitY issued a fresh advisory, dropping the requirement of obtaining “explicit permission” from the government.
- The latest advisory said under-tested or unreliable AI products should be labeled with a disclaimer indicating that outputs generated by such products may be unreliable.
- Center for Digital Economy Policy Research (C-DEP), said the advisory is,
- An additional qualifier that all AI-generated content that can potentially cause disinformation should be clearly labeled as AI generated.
- This advisory does not really hinder the industry,
- Software Freedom Law Center (SFLC), suggested the government “should be ready to update existing laws to protect public interest and guard against future harm associated with the technology.
Prelims Takeaway:
- AI & Deepfake
- IT Rules, 2021