Parl panel to govt: Develop legal and tech solutions to act against AI-based fake news
New Delhi: A parliamentary committee has asked the government to develop concrete legal and technological solutions for identifying and prosecuting individuals and entities responsible for spreading Artificial Intelligence-generated fake news.
The Standing Committee on Communications and Information Technology, in its draft report, called for a balanced approach for deploying AI to curb fake news, noting that the technology is being used to detect misinformation but can be a source of misinformation as well.
The draft report of the committee, headed by BJP MP Nishikant Dubey, was recently submitted to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla. It will be tabled in Parliament during the next session. The Committee also urged for “close coordination between the Information and Broadcasting ministry, Electronics and Information Technology ministry (MeitY), and other ministries and departments concerned to develop concrete legal and technological solutions for identifying and prosecuting individuals and entities responsible for disseminating AI-generated fake news”, according to sources.
It has recommended inter-ministerial coordination for exploring the feasibility of licensing requirements for AI content creators and mandatory labelling of AI-generated videos and content.
The committee’s suggestions are not binding on the government. However, the government often looks to implement them as parliamentary committees are representative of Parliament, and their recommendations often carry the weight of bipartisan spirit.
The MeitY, the Committee noted, has constituted a nine-member panel to examine problems related to the “issue of deepfakes”.
Two projects to detect fake news currently underway are: fake speech detection using a deep learning framework and design and development of software for detecting deepfake videos and images, it said.
The committee highlighted the related ministries’ stand that AI is evolving and works on the use of pre-existing information available on the internet.
