New Delhi, Feb 20 (PTI) Several countries have lauded India’s decision to mandate clear labelling of AI-generated content and are considering similar measures, IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said on Friday, as amended IT rules governing synthetic content came into force.
The new IT rules that took effect on Friday come amid growing misuse of Artificial Intelligence to create and circulate obscene, deceptive and fake content on social media platforms. The new rules require embedding permanent metadata or an identifier with AI content, ban content considered illegal under the law, and shorten user grievance redressal timelines.
Addressing a briefing at the India AI Summit, Vaishnaw said there had been no pushback against the move.
“New regulations on synthetic content have been accepted by everyone. In fact, everyone I met has said this is required. Many nations are also talking of bringing regulations similar to ours. Many nations congratulated India for taking this initiative, and have indicated that going forward, they may also go for watermarking,” the IT Minister said.
The objective, the minister added, is to empower users to determine whether a piece of content is real or synthetically generated. He stressed that any content illegal in the physical world under constitutional and legal frameworks remains illegal in the online domain as well.
“…so users can decide for themselves whether or not to trust it. The other thing we all need to bear in mind is that whatever is illegal in the physical world and violates the constitutional framework and laws is also illegal in the online universe. It is logical,” he said.
It is pertinent to mention here that in the run-up to the rules, authorities had flagged a rise in AI-generated deepfakes, non-consensual intimate imagery and misleading videos that impersonate individuals or fabricate real-world events, often spreading rapidly online.
The amended IT rules aim to curb such abuse by requiring faster takedowns, mandatory labelling of AI-generated content and stronger accountability from platforms to prevent the promotion and amplification of unlawful synthetic material. It places the onus on both social media platforms and AI tools.
Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) issued a gazette notification, amending the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021.
The tweaked IT rules came into force on Friday.
