Government issues advisory

The IT Ministry recently issued an advisory to generative AI companies that says, if they offer “undertesting/ unreliable” AI systems to Indian users, they must explicitly seek permission from the Centre before doing so and appropriately label the possible and inherent “fallibility or unreliability of the output generated”. This, the advisory states, is to ensure AI doesn’t generate any responses that are illegal under Indian law, or “threaten the integrity of the electoral process”. The advisory was met with severe backlash, from both national and international AI players, prompting Minister of State for Electronics and IT Rajeev Chandrasekhar to clarify that it didn’t apply to startups. Though this has come as a relief, Senthil Nayagam, founder of startup Muonium AI, has put together an ‘Ethical AI Coalition Manifesto’ in the runup to the elections. It says: “We pledge to uphold the integrity of democratic processes by ensuring that AI technologies are not used to manipulate elections, spread misinformation, or undermine public trust in political institutions. AI tools deployed in the political arena must be transparent, accountable, and free from bias.” Nayagam says the manifesto is “a way to hold us accountable, and also assuage the concerns of the government”. So far, he’s reached out to around 30 companies, of which two have signed the manifesto and three are in the process of signing it, says Nayagam. Others are hedging their bets, waiting for regulations to evolve further. “Like any powerful technology, AI can be used for both good and bad. We want to ensure its use case is restricted to the beneficial, rather than the nefarious,” says cosignee Varshul CW, founder of AI startup Dubverse.