SYNTHETIC MEDIA IN INDIA: A CRITICAL ANALYSIS OF THE EXISTING LEGAL FRAMEWORK

The proliferation of artificial intelligence technologies has given rise to synthetic media, such as deepfakes, raising several concerns with respect to privacy, impersonation, fraudulent activities, harassment, and copyright violation. The current paper critically reviews the legal position on synthetic media in India, particularly the provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023, the Information Technology Act, 2000, and the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021, as amended, in light of the following: criminal liability, intermediary liability, content removal, copyright protection, and detection of AI-generated media. The relevance of ANI Media Pvt. Ltd. v. OpenAI OpCo LLC is discussed with regard to the issues related to copyright law in the context of AI training. The existing legal regime regulating the area under study is fragmented and subject to various difficulties in terms of its implementation, investigation and evidence gathering, as well as technical issues associated with detection of AI-generated media.