Government Withdraws Advisory Mandating Approval For New AI Products: Here's Why

The government has reversed its decision regarding the requirement for obtaining approval before launching AI products.

The previous advisory had urged tech companies to seek approval before launching "unreliable" or "under-tested" generative AI models or tools, expressing concerns about their potential impact on the integrity of the electoral process.

The IT ministry said that the advisory issued on 15 March, under the IT Act 2000 and IT Rules 2021,  supersedes the 1 March advisory where it had directed platforms to take "explicit permission" of the Centre before deploying "under-testing/unreliable" AI models, etc.

"The advisory is issued in suppression of advisory.. dated March 1, 2024," it read.

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Also, criticism from various quarters prompted Minister of State Rajeev Chandrasekhar to clarify that the advisory targeted large platforms and did not apply to startups.

The new directive mentioned the importance of appropriately labeling AI-generated content, especially content susceptible to misuse.

While retaining some older provisions such as the consent popup mechanism, the Ministry instructed platforms to ensure that biases arising from their AI models or platforms do not compromise India's electoral process.

Later, IT minister Ashwini Vaishnaw had also clarified that the ask of testing AI models before launching for the public, will not apply for those working in the healthcare, agriculture and similar sectors.

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