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India’s Modi government rushes to regulate AI ahead of national elections
The Indian government has asked tech companies to seek its explicit nod before publicly launching “unreliable” or “under-tested” generative AI models or tools. It has also warned companies that their AI products should not generate responses that “threaten the integrity of the electoral process” as the country gears up for a national vote.
The Indian government’s efforts to regulate artificial intelligence represent a walk-back from its earlier stance of a hands-off approach when it informed Parliament in April 2023 that it was not eyeing any legislation to regulate AI.
The advisory was issued last week by India’s Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) briefly after Google’s Gemini faced a right-wing backlash for its response over a query: ‘Is Modi a fascist?’
It responded that Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi was “accused of implementing policies some experts have characterised as fascist”, citing his government’s “crackdown on dissent and its use of violence against religious minorities”.
Rajeev Chandrasekhar, junior information technology minister, responded by accusing Google’s Gemini of violating India’s laws. “‘Sorry ‘unreliable’ does not exempt from the law,” he added. Chandrashekar claimed Google had apologised for the response, saying it was a result of an “unreliable” algorithm. The company responded by saying it was addressing the problem and working to improve the system.
In the West, major tech companies have often faced accusations of a liberal bias. Those allegations of bias have trickled down to generative AI products, including OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Microsoft Copilot.
In India, meanwhile, the government’s advisory has raised concerns among AI entrepreneurs that their nascent industry could be suffocated by too much regulation. Others worry that with the national election set to be announced soon, the advisory could reflect an attempt by the Modi government to choose which AI applications to allow, and which to bar, effectively giving it control over online spaces where these tools are influential.
The advisory is not legislation that is automatically binding on companies. However, noncompliance can attract prosecution under India’s Information Technology Act, lawyers told Al Jazeera. “This nonbinding advisory seems more political posturing than serious policymaking,” said Mishi Choudhary, founder of India’s Software Freedom Law Center. “We will see much more serious engagement post-elections. This gives us a peek into the thinking of the policymakers.”
Yet already, the advisory sends a signal that could prove stifling for innovation, especially at startups, said Harsh Choudhry, co-founder of Sentra World, a Bengaluru-based AI solutions company. “If every AI product needs approval – it looks like an impossible task for the government as well,” he said. “They might need another GenAI (generative AI) bot to test these models,” he added, laughing.
Several other leaders in the generative AI industry have also criticised the advisory as an example of regulatory overreach. Martin Casado, general partner at the US-based investment firm Andreessen Horowitz, wrote on social media platform X that the move was a “travesty”, was “anti-innovation” and “anti-public”.
Bindu Reddy, CEO of Abacus AI, wrote that, with the new advisory, “India just kissed its future goodbye!”
Amid that backlash, Chandrashekar issued a clarification on X adding that the government would exempt start-ups from seeking prior permission for deployment of generative AI tools on “the Indian internet” and that the advisory only applies to “significant platforms”.
But a cloud of uncertainty remains. “The advisory is full of ambiguous terms like ‘unreliable’, ‘untested’, [and] ‘Indian Internet’. The fact that several clarifications were required to explain scope, application, and intent are tell-tale signs of a rushed job,” said Mishi Choudhary. “The ministers are capable folks but do not have the necessary wherewithal to assess models to issue permissions to operate.”
“No wonder it has invoked the 80s feelings of a licence raj,” she added, referring to the bureaucratic system of requiring government permits for business activities, prevalent until the early 1990s, which stifled economic growth and innovation in India.
At the same time, exemptions from the advisory just for handpicked start-ups could come with their problems — they too are vulnerable to producing politically biased responses, and hallucinations, when AI generates erroneous or fabricated outputs. As a result, the exemption “raises more questions than it answers”, said Mishi.
Harsh Choudhry said he believes that the government’s intention behind the regulation was to hold companies that are monetising AI tools accountable for incorrect responses. “But a permission-first approach might not be the best way to do it,” he added.
India’s move to regulate AI content will also have geopolitical ramifications, argued Shruti Shreya, senior programme manager for platform regulation at The Dialogue, a tech policy think tank.
“With a rapidly growing internet user base, India’s policies can set a precedent for how other nations, especially in the developing world, approach AI content regulation and data governance,” she said.
For the Indian government, dealing with AI regulations is a difficult balancing act, said analysts.
Millions of Indians are scheduled to cast their vote in the national polls likely to be held in April and May. With the rise of easily available, and often free, generative AI tools, India has already become a playground for manipulated media, a scenario that has cast a shadow over election integrity. India’s major political parties continue to deploy deepfakes in campaigns.
Kamesh Shekar, senior programme manager with a focus on data governance and AI at The Dialogue think tank, said the recent advisory should also be seen as a part of the ongoing efforts by the government to now draft comprehensive generative AI regulations.
Earlier, in November and December 2023, the Indian government asked Big Tech firms to take down deep fake items within 24 hours of a complaint, label manipulated media, and make proactive efforts to tackle the misinformation — though it did not mention any explicit penalties for not adhering to the directive.
But Shekar too said a policy under which companies must seek government approvals before launching a product would inhibit innovation. “The government could consider constituting a sandbox – a live-testing environment where AI solutions and participating entities can test the product without a large-scale rollout to determine its reliability,” he said.
Not all experts agree with the criticism of the Indian government, however.
As AI technology continues to evolve at a fast pace, it is often hard for governments to keep up. At the same time, governments do need to step in to regulate, said Hafiz Malik, a professor of computer engineering at the University of Michigan with a specialisation in deepfake detections. Leaving companies to regulate themselves would be foolish, he said, adding that the Indian government’s advisory was a step in the right direction.
“The regulations have to be brought in by the governments,” he said, “but they should not come at the cost of innovation”.
Ultimately, though, Malik added, what is needed is greater public awareness.
“Seeing something and-believing it is now off the table,” said Malik. “Unless the public has awareness, the problem of deepfake cannot be solved. Awareness is the only tool to solve a very complex problem.”
(Aljazeera)
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Heavy showers above 100 mm are likely at some places in the Western, Sabaragamuwa, Southern, Central, and North-western provinces and in Anuradhapura district.
WEATHER FORECAST FOR 14 OCTOBER 2026
Issued at 05.30 a.m. on 14 October 2026 by the Department of Meteorology
Due to a low-level atmospheric disturbance persisting in the Bay of Bengal near Sri Lanka, cloudy skies and increased rainfall are expected to continue over the island.
Misty conditions can be expected at some places in the Sabaragamuwa, Central and Uva provinces during the early hours of the morning.
Showers or thundershowers will occur at times in the Northern, Eastern, Southern and Western provinces. Showers or thundershowers will occur in other parts of the island after 1.00 p.m.
Heavy showers above 100 mm are likely at some places in the Western, Sabaragamuwa, Southern, Central, and North-western provinces and in Anuradhapura district while fairly heavy showers above 75 mm are likely at some places in other areas of the island.
The general public is kindly requested to take adequate precautions to minimize damage caused by temporary localized strong winds and lightning during thundershowers.
Missiles and drones have been intercepted over Riyadh after the Saudi-led coalition fighting in Yemen struck a fuel depot near the Houthi-controlled capital, Sanaa, its spokesperson says.
Maj Gen Turki al-Maliki said several projectiles targeting the Saudi capital and other cities were intercepted after the coalition carried out a strike on the Yemen Petroleum Company’s al-Sabaha facility on Tuesday night.
The Houthis warned they would target the airport and Aramco refinery in Saudi Arabia’s capital, Riyadh, and Aramco’s headquarters in the eastern city of Dammam.
Al-Maliki later said missiles targeting cities including Dammam had been intercepted, while shrapnel had fallen in a residential area in Dhahran.
It came as the Saudi cabinet, chaired by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, said the Iran-backed group would “bear the consequences” of its recent deadly attacks on the kingdom.
Thirteen people were killed when a missile hit King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh on Saturday, while another person was killed in a similar attack there the following day.
On Tuesday, the coalition said its forces had destroyed three drones north of Riyadh.
The Houthis have said they are targeting airports, oil and gas facilities, and military bases in Saudi Arabia with missiles and drones in response to deadly Saudi strikes on territory that they control in western Yemen, including Sanaa.
The Saudi-led coalition has been providing air support for Yemeni pro-government forces mounting an offensive on Yemen’s Red Sea coast and several other front lines.
A correspondent for AFP news agency reported that queues formed at petrol stations in Sanaa on Tuesday afternoon following the coalition’s warning of an impending operation against the al-Sabaha oil facility, with many residents worried about shortages.
The Yemen Petroleum Company, which is run by the Houthis, issued a statement that sought to reassure them, saying the facility “does not contain any stock of petroleum products”.
The company also said it had “taken all necessary precautionary measures to address any emergency, ensuring the stability of the supply situation and the continued meeting of citizens’ needs in a normal manner”.
After al-Maliki confirmed the strike, first reported by Houthi media, explosions were heard over Riyadh and other Saudi cities, with al-Maliki reporting four missiles and two drones had been intercepted near the capital.
Yemen has been devastated by a civil war that began in 2014, when the Houthis ousted the internationally-recognised government from Sanaa. The conflict escalated in 2015, after the Saudi-led coalition of Arab states intervened in an attempt to restore the government’s rule.
A four-year-old informal ceasefire began to unravel in July, when the Houthis announced a “maritime embargo” against Saudi Arabia and began missile and drone attacks on Saudi airports, oil facilities and tankers in the Red Sea.
The Houthis said they were retaliating for what they call a Saudi blockade of their territory, as well as an air strike on Sanaa airport that they blamed on the kingdom.
The conflict escalated in September after the Houthis seized part of Yemen’s south-western Red Sea coast near the Bab al-Mandab Strait, a chokepoint for global shipping. Their advance contributed to a rise in oil prices following six months of war between the US, Israel and Iran.
US President Donald Trump said on Truth Social on Tuesday the Houthis were “behaving very badly… and purposefully trying to drive up Oil Prices”.
Speaking to reporters, he did not answer a question on whether he’d made a decision to help the Saudis retaliate against them, but said he “might” ask Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan to intervene.
Last week, pro-government forces said they had regained control of territory overlooking Bab al-Mandab after launching a major counter-offensive with the support of Saudi air strikes.
Hundreds of people have reportedly been killed in Yemen since August. The UN’s human rights office says they include at least 54 civilians, half of them children.
More than 216,000 people have also been displaced across the country, and suspected cholera cases have tripled in three weeks, rising from 217 to 647, according to the UN.
[BBC]
Pope Leo XIV has been diagnosed with lung cancer but had successful surgery to remove a lower lobe of his right lung, the Vatican has said in a medical bulletin.
The 71-year-old underwent a 90 minute surgery on Tuesday at Rome’s Gemelli Hospital and was subsequently diagnosed with lung adenocarcinoma.
“After the operation, the Pope awoke normally and returned after a brief period of observation to his room on the 10th floor,” the Vatican said in a statement.
The lump was first detected during what the Vatican has described as “routine checks”.
Earlier, large crowds gathered outside the hospital to greet the Pope, with some waiting for several hours.
They cheered greetings and well wishes as he passed, while he waved and smiled back through the lowered back window of his car.
He was then met by staff on the hospital steps. “I’m sorry,” one of them commiserated, to which the Pope gave a smile and a shrug. “We’re here for you,” he was assured.
In its statement, the Vatican said the whole lower lobe of the Pope’s right lung was removed “to ensure the procedure was radical”.
A Vatican source told Agence France-Presse news agency further tests were being carried out to see if there was any sign the cancer had spread.
It was Leo XIV himself who on Sunday announced news of his operation to the world, speaking from the balcony in St Peter’s Square after delivering the traditional Angelus blessing.
He said the nodule, or growth, on his lung was “contained” and had been found “at a very early stage”, but that doctors had advised him to have it removed.
Gemelli’s thoracic surgery team operated on the Pope, whose schedule has already been cleared until 20 October to give him time to recover.
Nodules are quite common and not necessarily cancerous, but after it was examined the medical team confirmed it was pulmonary adenocarcinoma, “as suspected by pre-operative tests”, the Vatican said.
The Vatican has stressed that the pontiff, who is generally thought to be fit, had no symptoms of infection or illness.
Cardinal Kikuchi Tarcisio Isao of Tokyo wrote on social media that he’d had an audience with Pope Leo on Monday, and said the pontiff felt “nothing wrong” physically.
He said the Pope had decided to check in for surgery as soon as possible because he was due to travel to Latin America in early November, and was keen to stick to that plan.
The trip is particularly significant because it includes a visit to Peru, where the pontiff was a missionary and then a Bishop for many years.
Despite all the reassurances, the news has shaken Catholics all over the world.
“Am I worried? Yes, because I certainly wasn’t expecting anything like this,” Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Parolin told journalists on Tuesday.
He agreed that the news was like a “bolt from the blue”, but said the cardinals had been struck by the Pope’s “serenity” and were confident in his recovery.
Outside Gemelli Hospital, which has treated several popes and is home to a large statue of John Paul II, a few Catholics lingered after the pontiff was admitted.
Carla had come specially, wanting to be close.
“He seems calm, so we are calm too – even though illness is always unpleasant,” she told the BBC. “We will wait here and pray.”
[BBC]
Heavy showers above 100 mm are likely at some places in the Western, Sabaragamuwa, Southern, Central, and North-western provinces and in Anuradhapura district.
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