India’s Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) has issued a directive requiring explicit government permission for the deployment of “under-testing” or “unreliable” artificial intelligence (AI) models in the country. The advisory, addressed to platforms, emphasizes the importance of ensuring that AI tools do not exhibit bias, discrimination, or pose threats to electoral integrity.
According to the advisory, intermediaries must label all synthetically created media and text or embed them with unique identifiers or metadata for easy identification. Compliance with these guidelines is mandatory, and intermediaries are required to submit an “Action Taken-cum-Status Report” to MeitY within 15 days.
The issuance of this advisory follows recent incidents, including a controversial response from Google’s Gemini AI, which violated Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021. Minister of State for Electronics and Information Technology, Rajeev Chandrasekhar, highlighted concerns regarding the need for proper training of AI models to avoid biases.
The directive specifically targets AI models, large language models (LLMs), generative AI, and algorithms, prohibiting the hosting, display, upload, modification, publication, transmission, storage, update, or sharing of content falling within eleven categories of disallowed content.
Intermediaries are instructed to inform users about the consequences of dealing with unlawful information on their platforms, including access suspension, removal of non-compliant content, and legal repercussions. Additionally, MeitY advises labeling all synthetically created content to identify potential misinformation or deepfakes.
While the advisory does not define “deepfakes,” it urges intermediaries to embed content with permanent unique metadata or identifiers. This measure aims to identify artificially generated content, its generating software or resource, and the creator or first originator of such content.
The issuance of this advisory underscores the government’s efforts to address the challenges posed by AI-powered misinformation and deepfakes. MeitY’s continued engagement with intermediaries and technology companies reflects its commitment to mitigating the risks associated with AI deployment in India.
Sources By Agencies
