The newly elected Narendra Modi government is planning to introduce a bill in the upcoming Parliament session to look into the dangers of AI-generated deepfake videos and other online content, sources say.
Named as Digital India Bill, the legislation will also explore better ways to use Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology, sources further said, adding that the government will also try to get a cross-party consensus on the bill before its introduction in Parliament.
Earlier last year, the then Union Minister of State for Electronics and Information Technology, Rajeev Chandrasekhar, had also hinted about the bill, saying that it would be taken up for enactment and execution by the next government.
“Unfortunately, I don’t think we’ll be able to catch the legislative window before the elections, because we certainly need a lot of consultation and debate and discussion around it. But we certainly have a roadmap of what is legislation, what are our policy goals and what are the policy principles for safety and trust,” Chandrasekhar had said at the Financial Express’s DigiFraud & Safety Summit 2023.
Deepfake is a technology that has raised concerns about its potential for creating deceptive or misleading content, including the spread of false information, the fabrication of videos featuring public figures, and invasions of personal privacy.
In April this year, the Mumbai police registered a case against the Maharashtra Youth Congress’ social media handle and 16 others for allegedly sharing a deepfake video of Union Home Minister Amit Shah. In the fake video, BJP leader Shah was purportedly seen announcing the curtailment of reservation rights of the SCs, STs and OBCs.
