India is changing its AI stance and requiring government approval for model launches

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India has waded into the global AI debate by issuing an advisory requiring “significant” tech companies to seek government approval before launching new models.

India's Ministry of Electronics and IT issued the advisory to companies on Friday. The notice — which is not publicly available but a copy was reviewed by TechCrunch — also calls on tech companies to ensure that their services or products “do not permit bias or discrimination or jeopardize the integrity of the electoral process.”

Although the ministry admits the recommendation is not legally binding, India's deputy IT minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar says the notice “signals that this is the future of regulation.” He added: “We are making this today as a recommendation and asking you to adhere to it.”

In a tweet on Monday, Chandrasekhar said the advisory is aimed at “untested AI platforms deployed on the Indian internet” and does not apply to startups.

In its statement, the ministry refers to the powers conferred on it by the IT Act, 2000 and the IT Rules, 2021. It seeks compliance with “immediate effect” and requires tech companies to submit an “action with status report” to the ministry within 15 days.

The new notice, which also calls on tech firms to “appropriately” label the “possible and inherent fallibility or unreliability” of the results generated by their AI models, marks a turnaround from India’s previous, hands-off approach to AI regulation. Less than a year ago, the ministry had declined to regulate AI growth, instead identifying the sector as critical to India's strategic interests.

India's move has surprised many industry executives. Many Indian startups and VCs say they have been unsettled by the new advisory and believe such regulation will impact the country's ability to compete in the global race, where it is already lagging behind.

“I was stupid enough to think I would work to bring GenAI from San Francisco to Indian agriculture.” wrote Pratik Desai, founder of the startup Kisan AI. “We trained a multimodal, low-cost pest and disease model and were very excited about it. This is terrible and demotivating after working full-time for four years to introduce AI in this field in India.”

Many Silicon Valley executives also criticized India's political changes. Aravind Srinivas, co-founder and managing director of Perplexity AI, one of the hottest AI startups, said the new Delhi-based consultancy is a “bad move by India.”

Martin Casado, partner at the venture firm Andreessen Horowitz, said, “Good damn sir. What a travesty.”

The reference comes after Chandrasekhar expressed disappointment over a certain response from Google's Gemini last month. Last month, a user asked Gemini, formerly known as Bard, whether India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi was a fascist.

In response, Gemini – citing experts it did not identify – said Modi had been accused of implementing policies that some had described as fascist. Chandrasekhar responded to the exchange by warning Google that such responses were “direct violations” of IT Rules 2021 as well as “several provisions of the Penal Code.”

Failure to comply with the provisions of the IT Act and IT Rules would have “potential criminal consequences for the intermediaries or platforms or their users if they are identified,” the advisory further states.