It has been a year since the generative Artificial Intelligence (AI) tool, Chat GPT, took the world by storm, causing a tumult in nearly every economy and society. While Indians took to it rather uncritically, the country’s legal architecture did not even pretend to take note. The dawdling has hardly helped. This was hit home in the past few weeks as deepfakes, synthetic AI-generated media content which resembles or recreates a living person, took the country by storm. Those in the metaverse would not have missed the video of Prime Minister Narendra Modi twirling at a dance event or sexually suggestive video clips of actors like Rashmika Mandanna and others.
When the country’s PM was not spared, imagine the possibility of deep fake videos and content being used for propaganda, revenge, defamation, and more. Most people in India do not have the tools or the knowledge to distinguish between genuine content and deep fakes; even if they did, it is highly doubtful that a nation of fake message consumers would want to find out the truth.
This is why a law becomes crucial to not only uphold the integrity of the content but also prevent discord in society. The union IT Ministry did issue an advisory to social media companies earlier this month to take down deep fakes or face criminal prosecution. But companies have days to take down content while the damage by deepfakes can literally take minutes.
There are at least two critical issues demanding urgent and comprehensive attention beyond mere warnings or penalties. First, India needs a well-considered and future-looking law on deep fakes as well as on the use of AI, or broadly on machine learning itself. Its best brains on AI and in law must be brought together to put the legal architecture in place, sooner than later.
Second, there should be social education for all classes of people across age groups; it is the government’s job to undertake this immediately. AI experts have already flagged that India’s large population and vast follower base on social media make it the world’s biggest testing laboratory for AI experiments. The damage this can do to individuals and society was brought home, ironically, by Sam Altman who led Open AI which rolled out Chat GPT.
Altman was sacked by the company’s board for saying that AI needs to be regulated. India’s government must get down to framing laws or rules without further delay. Deepfake is a threat to democracy itself.
