'Law of the Land is Supreme': India's Stern Message to X on Grok

The law of the land holds supreme and the onus of any manipulated, sexualised images created using Grok (a generative chatbot developed by xAI) and distributed on the platform lies with the company as well as the individual, a senior government official told journalists in New Delhi on Friday.

"Section 13 of India's Digital Personal Data Protection Act (DPDA), 2023, stipulates clear provisions to address and effectively redress any grievances arising from the misuse of personal data," the official said.

The responsibility lies not just the user who manipulates the AI model to create such explicit images, but also the company as well, the official said.

India was one of the first countries to flag the misuse of AI models, later joined in its appeal by Malaysia and France (as well as the EU), the official noted. The government has asked X to take down the illegal content and review its AI model.

The official noted that India's digital laws seek to strike a "middle-ground" between the "over-resticted EU regulations" and "under-regulated American laws" as far as AI governance is concerned.

Massive concerns around user safety have emerged in India in recent weeks after the misuse of Grok AI by certain users to generate vulgar images of women and minors. India's Ministry of Electronics and IT (MeITY) flagged the issue of such user-generated obscene content to X Corp’s Chief Compliance Officer last week.

X owner Elon Musk has said that those users who were found using Grok to "make illegal content will suffer the same consequences as if they upload illegal content".

"X is also reviewing its AI model in this regard," the official said.

Discussions around AI governance models, with a focus on child safety as well as tools to detect these violations, would form part of discussions at the upcoming Impact AI Summit to be held in Delhi on 19-20 February, the official said.

These discussions are taking place in several of the seven, multi-nation Working Groups (WGs) which have been formed to come up with the deliverables. These working groups are categorised under the brackets of Human Capital, Inclusion for Social Empowerment, Safe and Trusted AI, Resilience, Innovation and Efficiency, Science and Democratising AI Resources, AI for Economic Development and Social Good.

Around 7-10 Heads of States, including Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula Da Silva and French President Emmanuel Macron, are expected to attend the Impact AI Summit in Delhi next month. The Summit, the first to be hosted in Global South, will bring together nearly 100 nations. Around 100 CEOs are also expected to be in attendance, an Indian government official said.

The official said that India has also extended an invite to China to attend the Summit.

'Focus on Global South'

The main focus of the Summit is to work towards democratising AI governance, bridging the emerging AI divide and work towards developing indigenous and AI local solutions. The voice of the Global South nations, which will be represented at the Summit, must be reflected in global AI governance rules, the official underscored.

The official noted that the Summit will be the first to be hosted in Global South, following the UK AI Safety Summit, the AI Seoul Summit and the the France AI Action Summit.

The draft of the final document has been finalised and is currently being circulated among member countries.

"Around 10 deliverables are expected to be revealed in the New Delhi Declaration set to be unveiled 19 February", the official said.

From India's perspective, the focus of the Impact AI Summit is to present India's strengths in the realm to the world.

"We expect to showcase India's prowess in AI, which also includes a large talent pool, present India's strengths in Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) as well as attracting investments for the growth of India's AI sector," the official said.

India isn't chasing the success of Deep Seek of ChatGPT. We want to create our own India moment, with a focus on solutions for healthcare, education and agriculture among others which could be replicated in the Global South, the official stated.

As part of the Summit, a multitude of events have been planned from 15 to 20 February, which include the India Innovation Festival (15-20 February), AI Impact Expo (16-20 February) and the main Summit which will be convened by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 19 February.

Science & Tech

India Should Present Unique AI Model to World: PM Modi

8 January, 18:43