MeitY’s New Advisory on AI Deployment in India Sparks Debate 

The Indian Ministry of Electronics is now stepping into regulating the deployment of AI and generative AI models in India. This means that AI tools like Gemini, Copilot, etc., would need approval for their implementation and operation. This has surged a lot of mixed opinions in the tech community.

Generative AI has been the talk of the town lately, primarily due to its extreme capabilities and ease of access. While Generative AI, or Gen AI, is useful for grasping information or quickly getting things done, it’s not one hundred percent reliable due to its vast yet limited knowledge about the world. This is where MeitY, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology of India, steps in.

Companies deploying AI tool testing or training in India are now required by MeitY’s recent law to secure government approval prior to the product launch. Aiming to control the availability of unreliable or untested AI models on the internet in India, this regulation is a part of the new IT laws. 

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“The use of under-testing / unreliable Artificial Intelligence model(s) /LLM/Generative/AI, software(s) or algorithm(s) and its availability to the users on Indian Internet must be done so with explicit permission of the Government of India,” says MeitY’s new advisory.

These models include Generative AI and Large Language Models (LLM) such as Gemini, ChatGPT, DALL-E, and the likes. Also, to let users know that the AI output can be flawed or unreliable, the regulation mandates a “consent pop-up” approach. This ensures that consumers cannot sue the AI platform in case of a mishap.

As Chandrasekhar, the Union Minister of State for IT pointed out on X, this regulation does not apply to startups but rather to “significant” platforms. According to him, the regulation will make platforms more careful when releasing AI models to the public, which will help keep users informed if any of these models turn out to be unreliable. 

On the other hand, the regulation has divided opinion among experts and IT executives, who are worried about how it would affect AI research in India. Not to mention that last month, Chandrasekhar announced the government’s upcoming AI regulatory framework is scheduled to take effect in June or July 2024. 

Some critics say that the new advisory aims to promote India’s in-house LLM / generative AI model, Krutrim which is still in development by the EV company Ola. Krutrim is expected to launch later this year and compete with OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Google’s Gemini. Others argue that the advisory only came out when a user on X posted a tweet where Gemini called Prime Minister Narendra Modi a “fascist.” 

Nevertheless, after huge criticism from several experts, Chandrashekhar explained that platforms are already legally accountable for unlawful content, with no blanket safe harbor. The advisory is for those deploying experimental AI to comply with existing laws, suggesting labeling, explicit consent, and government permission for “significant platforms.”

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