The use of AI in India is growing at a great pace, and it’s not always for the better. One of the most alarming uses of AI has come into play during the 2024 election period of the world’s largest democracy. The rampant use of AI-generated fake news has become an absolute bane to the democratic process.
What’s even more important is that this issue does not remaining limited within India’s borders. The AI tools being used to create the misinformation are mostly of foreign origin. As a result, the companies are concerned as well about their tools being used in malicious ways.
There are various views present regarding this issue. But what’s certain is that the Indian legislation is unable to tackle this issue.
Awareness is Just the Start
As per Andy Parsons, a member of the Content Authenticity Initiative (CAI), the Indian audience lacks awareness regarding how to verify AI-generated content online. And this is only one-half of the problem. He suggests that Indian content creation agencies and organizations need to start declaring authenticity. This will create a standard whereby AI-generated content will become easily identifiable.
Parsons also points out that many Indian organizations using AI are not part of the Munich AI election safety accord. So, a change at the legislative level is required in order to combat the AI-based fake news concern. While detection tools provide a certain level of safety, in order to truly protect the masses from dangerous misinformation, legislative steps such as a partnership with the CAI are required.
Top companies such as Meta, Google, and Microsoft are already part of the CAI collective. It even partners with media giants such as the New York Times, BBC, etc. to run awareness campaigns. The CAI uses tools to study the metadata of images online and verify their authenticity.
Indian AI Market is a Mess
From deep fakes of politicians to morphed content that can sway public view, AI is currently a dangerous tool with the election process underway. WhatsApp has become a major means of spreading such misinformation, and Meta has already launched a helpline to combat the fake news crisis on its platform.
Being a country as vast as India, with so many ethnolinguistic variations present within local cultures, battling such a problem is truly a task. But, does this mean a blanket ban on the use of generative AI and otherwise? India currently plans to relax its rules around the development of AI-based models. Whether the current development will halt such plans remains to be seen.
