Centre proposes new rules to label and trace AI-generated content
What's the story
The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) has proposed amendments to the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021. The changes are aimed at preventing the misuse of generative artificial intelligence (AI) and deepfake technologies. The draft amendments were released earlier today. They define "synthetically generated information" clearly and require platforms, especially major social media intermediaries (SSMIs), to label such content through metadata tagging and visibility standards.
Compliance requirements
Major social media intermediaries to comply with additional rules
Under the proposed amendments, SSMIs—platforms with over five million registered users in India—will have to comply with additional rules. These include labeling synthetically generated content prominently or embedding it with a permanent unique identifier. The identifier should be visible or audible and cover at least 10% of the visual display's surface area or during the initial 10% of audio content duration.
Verification protocols
Platforms must declare if content is AI-generated
The proposed amendments also require platforms that allow the creation or modification of synthetic content to adopt technical measures for verification. They will have to declare if the uploaded content is AI-generated. This move is part of MeitY's larger effort to ensure an "open, safe, trusted and accountable Internet." The ministry has sought stakeholder feedback on these draft amendments by November 6.