The Centre said the upcoming Digital India Act (DIA) will strictly deal with misinformation and ‘high-risk AI’ to prevent user harm.
Timeline
The government met policy experts and other stakeholders for the second round of pre-drafting public consultations to draft the DIA which is expected in the next 2-3 months.
The first draft of the Bill is expected by the first week of June.
Objectives
The proposed Bill aims to help India achieve the goal of becoming a trillion-dollar digital economy.
The Bill is also expected to help India become a significant trusted player in the Global Value Chains for digital products, devices, platforms and solutions.
Background
The tech ecosystem in general and Internet in particular has evolved significantly after the Information Technology Act (IT Act) came into being in 2000.
Since then it has evolved and has had to be consistent with changing market trends, disruption in technologies, and keep in mind protection of “digital nagriks” from user harm.
Wary of AI-posed threats
Rajeev Chandrasekhar, Union Minister of State for Electronics and IT, said that in the midst of impending threat of AI-related misinformation, the government will create necessary checks through DIA which will address “high-risk and deep fake AI”.
“We are not going to regulate AI but we will create guardrails. There will be no separate legislation but a part of DIA will address threats related to high-risk AI,” said the minister.
Startups
The DIA will be an enabler for startup innovations in the country.
Chandrasekhar assured that Prime Minister Modi will ensure that the government moves do not create difficulties for innovation in the startup space.
Misinformation
On the topic of misinformation, he said that the IT Rules cast this obligation (of determining misinformation) on platforms.
“If there’s a need to define misinformation in the DIA, we will do so,” Chandrasekhar added.
The first round of pre-drafting consultations with stakeholders was held in March.
Keeping India ahead of future tech
The aim is to push India’s ambition of being at the forefront of nations that would shape future technologies.
For the first time, design, architecture and goals of a Bill are being discussed with stakeholders at its pre-introduction stage as part of the Digital India Dialogues.
