The Supreme Court of India has paused the ongoing proceedings in the Gujarat High Court concerning a public interest litigation (PIL) that advocates for a regulatory framework to address the challenges posed by AI-generated deepfake content. The bench, led by Chief Justice of India (CJI) Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V Mohana, responded to a transfer petition from the Union government, seeking to consolidate the matter at the Supreme Court level.
Representing the Union government, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, along with a team of advocates including Zoheb Hossain, Annam Venkatesh, Bhuvan Kapoor, Gaurang Bhushan, and Madhulika Upadhyay, presented the case. During the proceedings, Advocate Hossain informed the bench that similar cases had been halted in other High Courts and were now under the Supreme Court’s purview.
The Supreme Court has issued a notice on the transfer petition, with a returnable date set for October 5. Until then, the proceedings in the Gujarat High Court regarding the PIL will remain suspended.
The original PIL was advanced by Vikas Vijay Nair, who is urging for the establishment of a comprehensive regulatory framework to prevent the misuse of AI technologies, specifically targeting the creation and dissemination of deepfake videos and images that could impact constitutional and statutory figures.
Earlier this year, in April, the Gujarat High Court had instructed major social media platforms like Meta India, Google, X, Reddit, and Scribd to submit their responses to the petition. Similar concerns over deepfake and AI-generated content are also being addressed in cases pending before the Karnataka and Bombay High Courts, involving parties such as X Corp, the DigiPub News Foundation, Kunal Kamra, and Senior Advocate Haresh Jagtiani.
