The government is considering imposing penalties on the creators of deepfakes as well as the platforms hosting them as part of new regulations to curb the menace, Union Minister of Electronics and Information and Technology Ashwini Vaishnaw said on Thursday. The draft rules may come within 10 days, he added.
“Deepfakes have emerged as a new threat to democracy. These (can) weaken trust in society and its institutions,” Vaishnaw told reporters after a meeting with various stakeholders in New Delhi.
Deepfakes use deep learning artificial intelligence to replace, alter, or mimic someone’s face in video or voice in audio. They came in the limelight after actor Rashmika Mandanna’s face was found to have been used in an embarrassing video earlier this month.
“Today we had discussions with companies that are leaders in AI (artificial intelligence) tools, (IT industry body) Nasscom, and academicians who are well known in this space, and we all agreed that within the next 10 days we will come up with clear actionable items on four pillars in a very structured way,” he said.
According to the minister, the immediate four pillars of focus and execution will be: the detection of deepfakes and misinformation, prevention of their spread, strengthening of the reporting mechanism, and creating awareness.
“All companies and platforms and the industry shared our concern. They understood that this is not free speech, and this is something which is harmful for society. They understand the need for heavier regulations for this. We will start drafting the regulations today itself,” he added.
The minister also agreed that there were technologies for detection of deepfakes. He also said watermarking and labelling were the basic requirements, but many miscreants had found a way to go around them.
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The regulations will be applicable to all those deepfake videos that are being shown in India, he said.
Vaishnaw said deepfake advertisements or misleading promotions were a threat being faced by Indian society. “The use of social media ensures that deepfakes can spread rapidly in a more significant manner without any check and go viral. This is why we need to take urgent steps to strengthen trust in society and our democracy,” he said.
A spokesperson for Google said in a statement that the company appreciated “the opportunity to meet with the government, jointly with industry stakeholders, to discuss the need to develop safeguards around synthetic content and share how we are building tools and guardrails to address associated risks”.
“We’re also building tools and guardrails to help prevent the misuse of technology, while enabling people to better evaluate online information. We have long-standing, robust policies, technology, and systems to identify and remove harmful content across our products and platforms. We are applying this same ethos and approach as we launch new products powered by Generative AI technology,” said the statement.
Earlier, during the opening of the Virtual Summit of G20 nations, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had raised concern over deepfakes and said technology like AI should be used to benefit the society.
(With inputs from PTI)