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Following MeitY‘s (Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology) advisory on directing Artificial Intelligence (AI) platforms to seek permission before launching an AI product, Minister of State for Electronics and Information Technology Rajeev Chandrasekhar has clarified that this directive does not extend to startups.

The minister has reiterated his stance on the issue on X, emphasising the legal repercussions under existing laws, including both criminal and technology legislation for platforms that enable or directly output unlawful content specified under Rule 3(1)(b) of IT rules. 

“Advisory was simply that… a piece of advice to those deploying lab level /undertested AI platforms onto public Internet and that cause harm or enable unlawful content [to be aware that platforms have clear obligations under IT and criminal law]. So, the best way to protect yourself is to use labelling and explicit consent. If you are a major platform, take permission from the government before you deploy error-prone platforms,” Chandrashekhar said in a tweet.

He clarified that all platforms do not have safe harbour or free pass vis-a-vis unlawful content.

“Recent advisory of @GoI_MeitY needs to be understood. Advisory is aimed at significant platforms and permission seeking from MeitY is only for large platforms and will not apply to startups. The advisory is also aimed at untested AI platforms from deploying on the Indian Internet,” he noted in another tweet.

He further emphasised that the process of seeking permission, labelling and consent-based disclosure to users about untested platforms is an ‘insurance policy’ to platforms who consumers can otherwise sue.

“Safety and trust of India’s internet is a shared and common goal for government, users and platforms,” the minister added.

As reported by The Economic Times on March 1, MeitY issued the advisory to seek the government’s approval to launch AI products. The advisory also included recommendations for platforms to label or embed identifiers in AI-generated content, aimed to identify the creators of misinformation or deep fakes. 

“All intermediaries or platforms to ensure that use of Artificial Intelligence model(s) /LLM/Generative Al, software(s) or algorithm(s) on or through its computer resource does not permit its users to host, display, upload, modify, publish, transmit, store, update or share any unlawful content as outlined in the Rule 3(1)(b) of the IT Rules or violate any other provision of the IT Act,” said a release. 

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The notice also asked platforms to submit an action taken-cum-status report to the ministry within 15 days. 

The latest advisory comes more than two months after the Ministry’s initial December guidance, which urged social media platforms to comply with existing IT regulations to combat deepfakes.

“The content not permitted under the IT Rules, in particular, those listed under Rule 3(1)(b) must be clearly communicated to the users in clear and precise language including through its terms of service and user agreements and the same must be expressly informed to the user at the time of first-registration and also as regular reminders, in particular, at every instance of login and while uploading/sharing information onto the platform,” stated an earlier release issued by the Ministry. 

Several users, including founders, have responded to the situation on X.

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Knee jerk reactions all around.

1. Govt issues open ended advisory on AI models after a couple of platforms mess up.
2. World goes crazy thinking India is moving back, license raj again, etc.
3. Govt tweets a clarification it's not for startups, again leading to more…

&mdash; Aakrit Vaish (@aakrit) March 4, 2024

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