India's IT Ministry Developing Voluntary Ethics Code for AI Companies

MeitY readying voluntary ethics code for AI firms

Some of the larger principles that the IT ministry may release as a part of the voluntary code involve measures that companies can take during the training, deployment, and commercial sale as well as identifying and rectifying any instances of potential misuse of the LLM and AI platforms developed by the company, the second official said.The government is working on a set of voluntary codes of conduct and ethics for companies to follow for the work they do with artificial intelligence (AI) or generative AI, sources told ET. The conduct and ethics developed by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology will be akin to "informal directive principles" for companies, especially those working to build their large language models (LLMs) or using data to train AI and machine learning models, an official said. "A law on AI is still some time away. We are talking to all stakeholders right now to see what can be included and trying to get the industry onboard on a common set of principles and guidelines," the official said. The voluntary code of conduct could be released early next year, another official said. Some of the larger principles that the IT ministry may release as a part of the voluntary code involve measures that companies can take during the training, deployment, and commercial sale as well as identifying and rectifying any instances of potential misuse of the LLM and AI platforms developed by the company, the second official said. "The G7 members have developed an 11-point code of conduct for companies which work in the AI and gen-AI space. Though what we are trying to develop will be completely different, the idea will be the same," one of the officials quoted above said. Earlier this year in March, the IT ministry issued an advisory asking all platforms to ensure that "their computer resources do not permit any bias or discrimination or threaten the integrity of the electoral process" by the use of AI, generative AI, LLMs or any such other algorithm. In its advisory, the IT ministry had also said that all AI models, large-language models (LLMs), software using generative AI or any algorithms that are currently being tested, are in the beta stage of development or are unreliable in any form must seek "explicit permission of the government of India" before being deployed for users on the Indian internet. The advisory was later withdrawn and requirements for companies to register their AI or LLM before deployment was also dropped.

Govt Working On Voluntary Codes Of Conduct For AI Companies

This code is likely to include broad principles outlining measures companies can adopt during the training, deployment, and commercial sale of their LLMs and AI platforms The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology is reportedly working on voluntary codes of conduct and ethics for companies to follow for the work they do with AI and GenAI. As per an ET report, these guidelines will serve as "informal directive principles," targeting companies that create large language models (LLMs) or utilise data for training AI and machine learning models. The voluntary code of conduct is expected to be released early next year. "A law on AI is still some time away. We are talking to all stakeholders right now to see what can be included and trying to get the industry onboard on a common set of principles and guidelines," an official told ET. This code is likely to include broad principles outlining measures companies can adopt during the training, deployment, and commercial sale of their LLMs and AI platforms. It will also emphasise identifying and addressing potential instances of misuse of these technologies, according to a second official. "The G7 members have developed an 11-point code of conduct for companies which work in the AI and gen-AI space. Though what we are trying to develop will be completely different, the idea will be the same," the source added. Earlier this year, the IT ministry issued an advisory directing platforms to ensure that their computational resources do not enable bias, discrimination, or pose a threat to the integrity of the electoral process through the use of AI, generative AI, LLMs, or similar algorithms. The advisory also said that any AI models, large language models (LLMs), generative AI software, or algorithms that are under testing, in beta stages, or otherwise unreliable must obtain "explicit permission from the Government of India" before being deployed for users on the Indian internet. The advisory was later withdrawn and requirements for companies to register their AI or LLM before deployment was also dropped. This comes at a time when the government has been actively pushing for rapid adoption of AI, with an eye on streamlining access to government services and digital public goods. Additionally, Minister of State (MoS) for Electronics and Information Technology Jitin Prasada recently said that the government has constituted an advisory group to formulate a framework to regulate AI.