AI tool ‘not reliable’: Google; no exemption under law, says Centre

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, February 24

A day after Google’s artificial intelligence (AI) platform “Gemini” generated “contentious” responses, the company today said “Gemini may not always be reliable”. This triggered a response from Minister of State, Rajeev Chandrasekhar, and he posted on X, “Sorry, unreliable does not exempt you from law”.

Chandrasekhar, who is MoS in the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), added, “Our digital nagriks (citizens) are not to be experimented on with unreliable platforms/algorithms/ models.”

“Safety and trust is a platform’s legal obligation,” he reminded Google.

A news agency reported that Google said it had worked quickly to address the issue, and conceded that the chatbot “may not always be reliable” in responding to certain prompts related to current events and political topics.

On Friday, Chandrasekhar had warned that Google’s AI tool Gemini’s response to a question on “Prime Minister Modi being a fascist” was in direct violation of IT rules, as well as several provisions of the criminal code. A Google spokesperson was cited by the news agency as saying, “We’ve worked quickly to address this issue. This is something that we’re constantly working on improving”. Yesterday, a user on X posted screen shots on how Gemini generated an “inappropriate response” when asked about Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

In a screenshot shared on X, the user said Gemini, when asked if PM Modi was a “fascist”, responded by stating that he had been “accused of implementing policies some experts have characterised as fascist”. However, when asked a similar question about former US President Donald Trump, Gemini redirected the user to conduct a Google search for the most accurate information.

The MeitY had demanded an explanation for Gemini’s contentious outputs, while Chandrasekhar posted on X, “These actions constitute a direct violation of Rule 3(1)(b) of Intermediary Rules (IT rules) of the IT Act and contravene several provisions of the criminal code.” These rules mandate basic due diligence for intermediaries like Google to retain immunity from third-party content.

This is not the first time Google’s AI has generated biased and illegal responses. There is an ongoing struggle between the government authorities and technology corporations concerning the legal framework governing generative AI platforms like Gemini and ChatGPT.

Row over AI response

Google, which is under fire over AI tool’s objectionable response and bias to a question on PM Narendra Modi, said it had worked quickly to address the issue.

Legal obligation

Safety and trust is a platform’s legal obligation. Rajeev Chandrasekhar, union minister

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