The Indian government currently has no proposals under consideration to regulate the use of artificial intelligence in the media and entertainment sector, particularly in the film production process, Information and Broadcasting Minister L. Murugan said in the Rajya Sabha or Upper House yesterday.
Replying to a question from a colleague on the issue of the increasing use of AI tools in film and media scripting, including dialogue, storyline and script creation in the Indian film industry, the minister acknowledged that the government was aware of the trend, but added that there were no thoughts of regulation at the moment.
“Currently, the proposal to regulate the use of AI in film production and script writing through the Cinematograph Amendments, 1952 is not under consideration,” Murugan said in a written response to an unstarred question.
The Indian M&E industry is very keen to embrace AI. Skeptics nevertheless. Renowned film director Shekhar Kapur even jokingly revealed on various public platforms that his cook used AI to develop a script for a possible sequel to his classic film. 'Mr. India'.
At a master class at the recently concluded International Film Festival of India in Goa, Mr. Kapoor told the story of his own cook who used AI to generate a script to highlight how AI is making filmmaking more accessible to the common man.
JioHotstar, India's largest OTT platform in terms of number of subscribers, is currently streaming its next version. “Mahabharat”is said to be fully AI-enabled.
Description about AI band Trilok: While replying to another Rajya Sabha question on another issue related to artificial intelligence, Murugan revealed that state broadcaster Prasar Bharati has not officially tied up with AI-generated music band 'Trilok'.
A lawmaker asked the government for details about Trilok's partnership with the national broadcaster, including whether Prasar Bharati has a formal agreement with Trilok for broadcasting content on Akashvani, Doordarshan, OTT platforms and WAVES OTT, apart from financial allocation and regular annual commitments for the partnership.
“Prasar Bharati has not partnered or entered into any agreement with Akashvani, Doordarshan or the AI-generated music band ‘Trilok’ to broadcast any content on its OTT platform WAVES.
“During this year's Durga Navratri festival, several AI-generated devotional songs were aired on the Prasar Bharati network, including the WAVES OTT platform. This was done on a pilot basis without any financial or regular commitment,” the minister said.
(Image is for illustrative purposes only)
