Ahead of the general elections to be held in India in the coming two months, the Indian government required AI platforms to obtain approval in addition to providing labeling and traceability to generated content.
According to multiple media, including India Today, Cryptopolitan, and Times Now, the Ministry of Electronics and IT of India issued an advisory to AI platforms, such as Gemini and OpenAI, on March 1, requiring them to comply with India's IT rules. India asked those platforms receiving the advisory to submit an action within 15 days.
Potential requirements for AI platforms will have to label the potential fallibility or unreliability of the generated content. The AI-generated content must have a permanent unique identifier to ensure traceability in the case of any misinformation or deepfake.
According to the reports, the Indian government will likely introduce AI-related legislation to regulate AI platforms and others, including AI models, LLMs, and algorithms.
The advisory states that platforms that currently offer "under-testing or unreliable AI systems or LLMs to Indian users must label the possible fallibility or unreliability of the output generated and information which may be used potentially as misinformation or deepfake should be labeled or embedded with a permanent unique metadata or identifier to identify the user of the software. Besides, intermediaries or platforms should ensure their computer resources do not permit any bias or discrimination or threaten the integrity of the electoral process.
After Google upgraded its Bard to Gemini, the AI service faced a series of troubles, including racial inaccuracies in some historical image generation depictions and a response that said the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi "was accused of implementing policies some experts have characterized as fascist."
Countries worldwide are anticipated to enact AI regulations, but progress is sluggish, except for China, which unveiled the world's first regulation on generative AI. In November 2023, Apple CEO Tim Cook said in an interview that most governments are a little behind the curve, but they were expected to catch up, adding that countries will formulate some AI regulations over the next 12-18 months.
Still, BNN Banking reported that some are worried about the potential impact of the advisory regarding AI on creativity, innovation, and free speech.
