‘Digital Nagriks’ not to be experimented with ‘unreliable’ AI models, govt tells Google India

New Delhi: The Centre on Saturday warned Google India that India’s ‘Digital Nagriks’ are not to be experimented on with ‘unreliable’ algorithms or AI models, as the IT Ministry was in the process of issuing a notice to the tech giant over “problematic and illegal” responses by Google’s Gemini AI.

In a post on X (formerly Twitter), Minister of State for Electronics and IT, Rajeev Chandrasekhar, said that the legal obligation to maintain safety and trust lies with the internet and digital platforms.

“Our ‘Digital Nagriks’ are not to be experimented on with ‘unreliable’ platforms/algorithms/models,” said the minister.

Safety and trust is platforms’ legal obligation and ‘Sorry Unreliable’ does not exempt from law,” he stressed.

The minister reacted after Google said earlier in the day that it has worked “quickly to address” the responses generated by its AI platform Gemini regarding Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

“We’ve worked quickly to address this issue. Gemini is built as a creativity and productivity tool and may not always be reliable, especially when it comes to responding to some prompts about current events, political topics, or evolving news,” a Google spokesperson had told IANS.

“This is something that we’re constantly working on improving,” the spokesperson added.

The company’s generative AI platform Gemini responded in an “objectionable” manner in a response to PM Modi.

Chandrasekhar said on Friday that this issue is “direct violations of Rule 3(1)(b) of Intermediary Rules (IT rules) of the IT Act and violations of several provisions of the Criminal code.”

Meanwhile, Google has paused the ability of Gemini AI to generate images of people.