The Indian government is preparing to introduce a new law centred on artificial intelligence (AI) to safeguard the interests of news publishers and content creators while also aiming to minimise potential user harm.
First reported by The Economic Times, citing the Union Minister for Electronics and Information Technology, Ashwini Vaishnaw, the suggested legislation could either stand alone as an independent law or become part of the Digital India Bill, set to supersede the current Information Technology Act of 2000.
Globally, many news publishers like The New York Times, CNN, Reuters, and Radio France, among others, have already blocked OpenAI’s access to their websites.
Similarly, regulatory actions against Google in France and ongoing disputes between content creators and tech firms highlight the complexities and challenges in this domain.
In India, publications like Amar Ujala and Dainik Bhaskar have also barred all AIs from accessing their content. The Digital News Publishers Association (DNPA) has also been actively advocating amendments to information technology rules to safeguard against potential copyright violations by AI models.
One of the primary objections raised by the news media is that Google has been using their content while denying them a fair share of revenue.
Vaishnaw emphasised that the forthcoming law will strike a delicate balance by protecting the rights and equitable sharing of benefits among news publishers, content creators, and AI technologies like large language models (LLMs).
“There is a transition happening. Our position is that the transition should not be disruptive because lakhs of livelihoods are involved,” the minister said.
The government is consulting with industry stakeholders, including tech giants, for a regulatory mechanism beyond self-regulation, favouring a legislative approach to ensure governance.
“One thought is to form a self-regulatory body,” the minister said. “But we don’t think that would be enough. We think that this regulation should be implemented through legislative methods. We have already consulted the industry. After elections, we will launch a formal consultation process and move towards legislation.”
In February 2024, about twenty top firms and social media companies signed an accord at the Munich Security Conference to combat the harmful side effects of AI-generated content on elections worldwide.
While most countries, including the United States, do not have a significant AI act, the European Parliament passed the AI Act on March 13, 2024. The act will be applicable from June 2026. Countries like China, Israel, and Brazil have also tried to regulate AI in their own ways, either by drafting policies, presenting a bill, or changing the existing acts.
In the News: Google under fire for indexing low-quality AI-generated books
