India planning to regulate AI platforms like ChatGPT: IT minister Ashwini Vaishnaw

India is taking into consideration a legal framework for regulating technology and AI-enabled platforms, such as ChatGPT, at a time when authorities in many places, including Europe and the US, have advocated for AI regulation.

The Union Government is reportedly considering a framework for AI regulation that addresses issues such as algorithm bias and copyrights, according to IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw.
The IT minister said various countries are looking into the growing influence of AI platforms and a regulatory framework is needed to be developed after international deliberations.

While interacting with the media, Vaishnaw expressed his concern related to Artificial Intelligence, “The whole world is looking at what should be the framework, and what should be the regulatory setup. In G7, all digital ministers (of G7 countries) are seriously concerned about what should be the regulatory framework. So, this is a global thing. This is not one country’s issue. This has to be looked at from the international perspective”. The Government also said AI regulation laws would be drafted with other like-minded nations.

He stated that the AI regulation laws in India would be drafted in collaboration with other countries that shared similar views regarding Artificial Intelligence. Regarding platforms such as ChatGPT, there are “concerns around IPR, copyright, bias of algorithm”, said the IT Minister. When the media asked Vaishnaw about AI requiring a separate regulation, he said, “all the countries will have to come up with some co-operative framework”.

European Union (EU) legislators have already enacted regulations for the technology. China has already drafted certain rules to regulate how businesses create generative AI technologies like ChatGPT.

Sam Altman, the CEO of OpenAI, the firm that makes ChatGPT, has campaigned for regulation of AI, which has led to the development of regulations. On May 16, Altman spoke before a US Senate committee and suggested that an organisation be set up to grant licences to AI firms.

He said, “I think if this technology goes wrong, it can go quite wrong. And we want to be vocal about that. We want to work with the government to prevent that from happening” .Altman stated that AI might destroy some jobs. He added, “We believe that the benefits of the tools we have deployed so far vastly outweigh the risks, but ensuring their safety is vital to our work”.

In May, the billionaire investor Warren Buffett shared his concerns about AI. He compared the creation of Artificial Intelligence with an atomic bomb.

Recently, the “godfather of AI”, Geoffrey Hinton, raised similar concerns about AI after leaving Google. According to Dr Hinton, companies are developing products based on generative AI but are not fully considering the risks it poses.

In March, OpenAI launched GPT4, which many technology leaders and researchers opposed. Around 1000 technology leaders and researchers signed an open letter for suspending this technology for six months, stating that it poses “profound risks to society and humanity”.