Government is working towards tightening the rules and guidelines for artificial intelligence (AI) created content, and new changes have been proposed by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) to its draft IT Rules Amendments. Apart from that, the ministry has also extended the timeline for consultation and submission of feedback on the proposed rules, the dates of which are now shifted to May 7, which was previously April 29. These changes come at the backdrop of increased content which is AI-created, in fact, which is now flooding the internet and social media platforms, and it aims to target major concerns like circulation of deepfakes and misinformation.
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New Changes In The Draft
The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology has tightened its stance on how AI-generated content should be labelled. In a fresh notice released on Tuesday, MeitY proposed a key tweak to Rule 3(3)(a)(ii), focusing on how platforms display these labels.
Earlier, platforms were only required to ensure “prominent visibility in the visual display". That wording has now been replaced with a stricter requirement: labels must have a “continuous and clearly visible display of such a label throughout the duration of the content, in a visual display.”
At first glance, the change might seem small, but the wording makes a real difference. Platforms will now need to keep the AI label visible for as long as the content is on screen, whether it is an image, video, audio clip, or even text. In other words, labels that briefly appear and then disappear will no longer meet the requirement.
“In order to provide stakeholders an opportunity to examine and submit feedback on the aforesaid additional changes, along with the earlier draft amendments, it has been decided to place these additional amendments also in the public domain for consultation,” the circular stated.
However, amendments to the draft when it is still open to consultations is quite rare. In order to accommodate the latest change and to provide enough time for reaction to it, the deadline for the stakeholder’s response has been shifted until May 7.
For context, the ministry had first released the draft amendments to the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021, on March 30, inviting public feedback.