Indian govt withdraws advisory mandating approval for new AI products

The fresh advisory on artificial intelligence was issued by the IT ministry on March 15

The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), in a fresh advisory issued on March 15, scrapped the requirement for seeking government approval before launching artificial intelligence (AI) products to the public. This follows widespread backlash from the industry.

The IT ministry said that the advisory issued on March 15, under the IT Act 2000 and IT Rules 2021,  supersedes the March 1 advisory where it had directed platforms to take "explicit permission" of the Centre before deploying "under-testing/unreliable" AI models, etc. The fresh advisory does not contain any such provision.

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

However, in the March 15 advisory, the government said that under-tested or unreliable AI products should be labelled with a disclaimer indicating that outputs generated by such products may be unreliable.

"Under-tested/unreliable Artificial Intelligence foundational model(s)/ LLM/Generative Al, software(s) or algorithm(s) or further development on such models should be made available to users in India only after appropriately labeling the possible inherent fallibility or unreliability of the output generated," the advisory accessed by Moneycontrol said.

"Further, "consent popup" or equivalent mechanisms may be used to explicitly inform the users about the possible inherent fallibility or unreliability of the output generated," it added.

The March 1 advisory had proved to be controversial, with startup founders slamming the directions. It was described as a "bad move" and "demotivating."

The outcry prompted minister of state for electronics and information technology Rajeev Chandrasekhar to clarify the direction would not apply to startups and was restricted to significant platforms.

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.

Event alert: Moneycontrol and CNBC TV18 are hosting the ultimate event on artificial intelligence, bringing together entrepreneurs, ecosystem enablers, policymakers, industry leaders, and innovators on March 27 in Pune. Click here to register and gain access to the AI Alliance Pune Chapter.