India says tech companies need approval before releasing new ‘untrustworthy’ AI tools

The Indian government has issued a notice to tech companies to develop new artificial intelligence (AI) tools that must be approved by the government before they can be launched.

According to an advisory released by India's IT Ministry on March 1, this approval should be given to AI devices that are “untrusted” or still in the experimental stage before they are officially released, and such devices should be flagged for possibly giving an incorrect answer. Questions. The minister added:

“Access to the Internet for users in India must be done expressly with the permission of the Government of India.”

The council also asked platforms to ensure that their devices “threaten the integrity of the electoral process” as general elections are expected this summer.

The new advice comes shortly after Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi called out Google and its AI tool Gemini for “wrong” or biased responses, including being branded a “fascist” by some.

Google apologized for Gemini's flaws and said it “may not always be reliable,” especially for current social issues.

Rajeev Chandrasekhar, India's deputy IT minister, said on X: “It's about security and trust. [a] Platform legal obligation. ‘Sorry Unbelievable' will not be exempt from the law.

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In November, India's government said it was introducing new rules to combat the spread of AI-generated hoaxes ahead of the upcoming election — a move that has also been implemented by regulators in the United States.

However, officials in India have received pushback from the tech community over the latest AI advisory, saying that India is a leader in the technology space and it would be a “criminal” for India to regulate itself without this leadership.

Chandrasekhar responded to this “noise and confusion” in a follow-up post on X, saying that “there should be legal consequences” for platforms that enable or directly publish illegal content. He added:

“India believes in AI and not just for talent, but as part of expanding our digital and innovation ecosystem. India's ambitions in AI and ensuring internet users have access to a secure and trusted internet are not binary.

It further clarified that the advisory is “merely to advise people deploying lab-level or untested AI platforms on the public internet” to be aware of the obligations and consequences under Indian laws and how to best protect themselves and users.

In the year On February 8, Microsoft partnered with Indian AI startup Sarvam to bring Indic-Voice Large Language Model (LLM) to Azure AI infrastructure to reach more users in the Indian subcontinent.

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