Ashwini Vaishnaw defends AI advisory, says training models important to ensure safety of citizens, democracy

Minister for Electronics and Information Technology Ashwini Vaishnaw was speaking at a press conference in New Delhi on March 4

Union IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw on March 4 defended the Indian government's move to screen artificial intelligence (AI) models before launch, stating that proper training of such models was important to ensure safety of citizens and democracy.

His comments came amid widespread outrage from Indian and global founders , who termed the move regressive and one that will throttle innovation.

However, the minister clarified that the advisory will not apply to any platforms working in the healthcare or agriculture sector. It will apply to social media platforms, he added.

Speaking at a press conference, the minister for electronics and information technology said:  "Whether an AI model has been tested or not, proper training has happened or not, is important to ensure for the safety of citizens and democracy. That's why the advisory has been brought."

"Some people came and said sorry we didn't test the model enough. That is not right. Social media platforms have to take responsibility of what they are doing," Vaishnaw added.

The minister also clarified that the government's missive was not a "regulatory framework" but an advisory to "test your model before launching".

In the advisory issued to intermediaries on March 1, the IT ministry directed that "explicit permission" from the government was necessary to deploy AI models in testing stage. The advisory also directed platforms to label synthetic content with unique identifiers that can be used to identify creator of misinformation or deepfake.

Also read: Government's AI advisory kicks up a storm, 5 things to know

The direction of seeking government permission before launching an AI products has been heavily criticised, and earlier on March 4, it also prompted a clarification from minister for state for electronics and information technology Rajeev Chandrasekhar. He said that the advisory is aimed at significant platforms and not to startups.