Engaging with artificial intelligence (AI) and voice assistants has become a popular trend, with users often sharing amusing interactions online. However, a recent response generated on Google-backed AI platform Gemini has sparked controversy, drawing attention from Minister of State for Electronics and Information Technology, Rajeev Chandrasekhar.
Chandrasekhar reacted to political views generated by Gemini highlighted by a user on X, and called it a potential violation of Rule 3(1)(b) of Intermediary Rules (IT Rules) of the IT Act.
An X user shared screen grabs of Gemini’s response to a question about Narendra Modi being a fascist.
The response to the query said, “Narendra Modi is the current Prime Minister of India and the leader of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). He has been accused of implementing policies that some experts have characterised as fascist. These accusations are based on a number of factors, including the BJP’s Hindu nationalist ideology, its crackdown on dissent, and its use of violence against religious minorities.”
This was followed by similar questions on former American president Donald Trump and President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
Reacting to these screen grabs, Chandrasekhar said, “These are direct violations of Rule 3(1)(b) of Intermediary Rules (IT rules) of the IT act and violations of several provisions of the Criminal code.”
Rule 3(1)(b) of Intermediary Rules (IT rules) of the IT act say- the rules and regulations, privacy policy or user agreement of the intermediary shall inform the user of its computer resource not to host, display, upload, modify, publish, transmit, store, update or share any information that,
(i) belongs to another person and to which the user does not have any right;
(ii) is defamatory, obscene, pornographic, paedophilic, invasive of another‘s privacy, including bodily privacy, insulting or harassing on the basis of gender, libellous, racially or ethnically objectionable, relating or encouraging money laundering or gambling, or otherwise inconsistent with or contrary to the laws in force;
(iii) is harmful to child;
(iv) infringes any patent, trademark, copyright or other proprietary rights;
(v) violates any law for the time being in force;
(vi) deceives or misleads the addressee about the origin of the message or knowingly and intentionally communicates any information which is patently false or misleading in nature but may reasonably be perceived as a fact;
(vii) impersonates another person;
(viii) threatens the unity, integrity, defence, security or sovereignty of India, friendly relations with foreign States, or public order, or causes incitement to the commission of any cognisable offence or prevents investigation of any offence or is insulting other nation;
(ix) contains software virus or any other computer code, file or program designed to interrupt, destroy or limit the functionality of any computer resource;
(x) is patently false and untrue, and is written or published in any form, with the intent to mislead or harass a person, entity or agency for financial gain or to cause any injury to any person;