Indian Govt no longer wants tech firms to seek approval for launching AI models

Earlier this month, the Indian government announced that tech firms will require government permission before publishing new AI models. Now, however, India has reportedly dropped that idea after a backlash. Those tech firms working on AI models no longer need to get any approval from the Indian government before launching their models, however, they will have to label under-tested models.

Govt no longer wants tech firms to seek approval for Al models

According to TechCrunch, the Ministry of Electronics and IT on Friday updated its AI advisory for the industry stakeholders. The new advisory stated that tech firms don’t need to seek government approval before deploying an AI model in the country.

The tech firms, however, will have to label unreliable and under-tested AI models so a layer of transparency is created. Also, it will help with minimizing the misinformation generated by AI-made content. Upon the previous announcement, the government received severe criticism on social media from several businesses that are actively working on AI.

It is worth noting that last year, the Union Minister of State for Electronics and IT, Rajeev Chandrasekhar, confirmed that the government won’t regulate AI applications. However, it anyway intervened, possibly to help make AI models safe and transparent for the users. But after the criticism it faced, it looks like, the plan has been reportedly scraped.

Those who were unhappy with the decision of the government wanting approval for AI applications are now relieved.

While now the approval isn’t reportedly required, the Indian government wants the AI models to not share unlawful content under Indian law. Further, these models should not permit any discrimination or bias.

Its decision on the labeling of AI-generation content is indeed the right step to do away with the misleading details spread by morphed content or deepfakes.