The Ministry of Information Technology (MeitY), Government of India, is working on a code of conduct for companies working with artificial intelligence (AI) in India, according to a report by Economic Times.
The code of conduct, also seen as an ethics code, will contain a set of voluntary guidelines for companies, especially those working on building Large Language Models, or are using large amounts of data for training an AI model, according to an official familiar with the developments.
These guidelines will only act as principles of good practice that the companies should comply with but will not be legally binding.
According to the sources, a comprehensive law on AI in India is still some time away, and the government is consulting with various stakeholders, including AI companies in India, to draft a common set of principles and guidelines.
Meanwhile, the code of conduct and ethics might be released early next year. The expected guidelines could set standards for AI processes like training and deployment, sales, and identification and rectification of misuse.
Earlier this year, MeitY had stated that all AI companies that are developing AI models, LLMs, or software that uses generative AI, or algorithms that are in testing or beta stage must seek "explicit permission" from the Indian government before its release to the Indian citizens. The advisory was later retracted, doing away with the requirement.