Global AI Conclave: Rajeev Chandrasekhar flags regulatory void in monetising publicly scraped data

Former union minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar in conversation with Moneycontrol's Chandra R Srikanth at the CNBC TV 18 and Moneycontrol Global AI Conclave in Bengaluru on November 22

Former Union Minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar raised concerns on November 22 about the lack of a legal framework for the monetisation of publicly available non-personal data on the internet.

Speaking at the CNBC-TV18 and Moneycontrol Global AI Conclave, Chandrasekhar said, "There are certainly gaps in our jurisprudential framework when it comes to non-personal data and monetising of it, scraping the internet, monetising of publicly available data and so on."

Chandrasekhar, who was previously the minister of state for electronics, information, and technology, said this in response to a question on deepfakes.

However, his statement is also significant because it also concerns how big LLM models scrap publicly available data on the internet without paying fair compensation to the owners of such data.

"Is there anything in place that causes the model trainer to compensate for the publicly scraped information? Currently, no! We need to plug that gap," he said.

"You certainly don't want a situation where big LLMs scrape the internet 10 times over and they have created such a critical mass, and that they don't care about whether you go protest to any court to complain about your content. That is not a desirable outcome.," he said.

However, Chandrasekhar opined that these gaps in judicial frameworks will be addressed by amending existing regulations or introducing new ones.

When asked about whether India should focus on building its own LLMs or build on top of existing ones, Chandrasekhar declined to answer and called the debate a "waste of time".

However, he stressed the need to focus on using AI for solving real use cases. "We must focus on solving real use cases with the help of AI. Like DPI, in the next 2-3 years, India should be able to show how AI has been harnessed, and how common people have been impacted by AI."

Chandrasekhar said that he is still very active in politics and that he spends much of his time in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala.

"I am very much in politics and public life, and I hope to continue to do what I was doing before I was doing as a minister -- shape the policies of the government of India, continue to expand the innovation system and so on," he added.

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