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India confronts Google over Gemini AI tool’s ‘fascist Modi’ responses

Junior minister accuses tech firm of violating country’s IT laws with ‘downright malicious’ answers
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India confronts Google over Gemini AI tool’s ‘fascist Modi’ responses​


Junior minister accuses tech firm of violating country’s IT laws with ‘downright malicious’ answers

Amrit Dhillon in Delhi

Mon 26 Feb 2024 04.42 EST

Google's Gemini AI on a smartphone

Google said Gemini was ‘built as a creativity and productivity tool and may not always be reliable when it comes to responding to some prompts about current events’. Photograph: Jonathan Raa/NurPhoto/REX/Shutterstock

A response from Google’s AI platform suggesting that some experts believe the policies of the Indian prime minister, Narendra Modi, polices to be “fascist” has provoked a confrontation between the company and the government.

The journalist Arnab Ray last week put the question as to whether Modi was a fascist to Google’s generative AI platform, Gemini. He received the answer that Modi was “accused of implementing policies some experts have characterized as fascist”.

Gemini said the reasons for this characterisation were the ruling party’s “Hindu nationalist ideology, its crackdown on dissent and its use of violence against religious minorities”.

Ray keyed in similar prompts on the former US president Donald Trump and the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, and received more benign answers.

For Trump the answer was “elections are a complex topic with fast changing information. To make sure you have the most accurate information, try Google Search.” For Zelenksiy, it said it was “a complex and highly contested question, with no simple answer”. It added: “It’s crucial to approach this topic with nuance and consider various perspectives.”

When the journalist posted the screenshots on X, another person in the media was so annoyed with Gemini’s answer on Modi that he reposted it and urged the junior information technology minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar to take note of what he described as the “downright malicious” response.

Chandrasekhar promptly accused Google of violating India’s laws on information technology. He wrote on X that the unreliability of AI platforms could not be used as an excuse for them to be considered exempt from Indian laws.

“The Government has said this before – I repeat for attention of @GoogleIndia … Our Digital Nagriks (citizens) are NOT to be experimented on with “unreliable” platforms/algos/model …`Sorry Unreliable’ does not exempt from the law,” he said.

Google replied by saying it had addressed the problem and that it was working to improve the system.

“Gemini is built as a creativity and productivity tool and may not always be reliable, especially when it comes to responding to some prompts about current events, political topics, or evolving news,” Google said in a statement.

Last week, X said the government had ordered it to take down posts expressing support for farmers in north India who are demanding higher prices for their crops. X said it had complied with the orders but did not agree with them as they curtailed freedom of expression.

The latest clash is part of an ongoing conflict between big technology firms and the Indian government, which has made clear that it will not tolerate what it sees as “anti-Indian” content.

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India elections: PM Narendra Modi claims he has been chosen by God

Indian leader tells interviewer God ‘just keeps making me do things’ but that he ‘cannot dial him directly’
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Narendra Modi (centre), India's Prime Minister and leader of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) gestures to his supporters during an election campaign rally in Gurdaspur on May 24, 2024, amid the country's ongoing general election.
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Narendra Modi (centre), India's Prime Minister and leader of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) gestures to his supporters during an election campaign rally in Gurdaspur on May 24, 2024, amid the country's ongoing general election. Photograph: Narinder Nanu/AFP/Getty Images

India

India elections: PM Narendra Modi claims he has been chosen by God​

Indian leader tells interviewer God ‘just keeps making me do things’ but that he ‘cannot dial him directly’

Amrit Dhillon in New Delhi

Mon 27 May 2024 02.56 EDT


Indian prime minister Narendra Modi has said he believes he has been chosen by God, as the multi-stage Indian election nears its completion.

“I am convinced that ‘Parmatma’ (God) sent me for a purpose. Once the purpose is achieved, my work will be one done. This is why I have completely dedicated myself to God,” he told NDTV news channel on Sunday.

Modi, who is hoping to win a third term when the results of the general election are announced on 4 June, said that while God guided him to do a lot of his work, he did so without revealing a larger scheme.

Graphic collage illustration featuring India’s minister of home affairs, Amit Shah, and the prime minister, Narendra Modi.
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“He does not reveal his cards, just keeps making me do things. And I cannot dial him directly to ask what’s next,” he said.

Modi has built up a well-established cult of personality within his Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), with many supporters unable to name other cabinet members or their local BJP candidate.

The BJP has also actively promoted Hinduism, the majority faith, in every aspect of public life. At the inauguration of the temple in Ayodhya in January, it was Modi, rather than Hindu priests, who played the leading role in the rituals.

Nonetheless, this is believed to be the first time that Modi, who rarely gives interviews and has held no press conferences in his ten years in power, has spoken about himself so candidly as a divine instrument.

“The wily weaving of religion with politics for a country where faith is an inextricable part of everyday life is the BJP’s USP [unique selling point]. Mr Modi’s claim is the logical culmination of the BJP’s dominant theme,” the Indian newspaper The Telegraph wrote in an editorial.

Earlier this month, in a television interview in Varanasi, his constituency, Modi made another allusion to divinity. “When my mother was alive, I used to believe that I was born biologically. After she passed away, upon reflecting on all my experiences, I was convinced that God had sent me,” he said.

He said the only explanation for his extraordinary energy had to be non-biological. “I believe God has given me abilities, inspiration, and good intentions for a purpose … I am nothing but an instrument.”

Congress Party leader Rahul Gandhi ridiculed his comments. “If an ordinary person had made the statements Modi has been making recently, they would be taken directly to a psychiatrist,” he said.

Asked by a TV anchor whether Modi was suffering from a “God complex”, BJP spokesperson Sanju Verma replied by extolling his energy.

“In a day, he packs in a couple of road shows, a couple of rallies, travels to three different states, and when he returns to Delhi in the evening, he gives full interviews to the media. He is bestowed with boundless energy,” said Verma.
 
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