Parliamentary panel seeks legal & tech framework against AI fake news

A parliamentary committee has urged the government to put in place concrete legal and technological solutions to identify and prosecute individuals and entities responsible for spreading Artificial Intelligence-generated fake news.

According to the draft report of the Standing Committee on Communications and Information Technology, chaired by BJP MP Nishikant Dubey, the panel called for a balanced approach in deploying AI to curb misinformation, noting that while the technology is being used to detect fake news, it is also capable of generating it.

The draft report was recently submitted to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla and is expected to be tabled in Parliament during the next session, the report noted.

The committee urged close coordination between the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), and other relevant departments. It recommended inter-ministerial consultation on licensing requirements for AI content creators and mandatory labelling of AI-generated videos and content.

The recommendations, though not binding, often carry weight as they reflect the collective voice of Parliament. The committee described fake news as a serious threat to public order and the democratic process, advocating stronger penal provisions, higher fines, and clearer accountability.

The report also noted MeitY’s ongoing work on deepfake detection, including a nine-member panel and two projects, one on fake speech detection using deep learning and another on developing software for identifying deepfake videos and images.

While ministries told the committee that AI is still evolving and not yet capable of handling complex tasks such as fact-checking, they suggested AI could be used to flag potentially misleading content for human review.

The committee also favoured mandatory fact-checking mechanisms and internal ombudsmen in print, digital, and electronic media organisations, but stressed that such measures should be built on consensus among media bodies and stakeholders.