Delhi HC observed on Wednesday that artificial intelligence is a “dangerous tool in anybody’s hand, whether it is Chinese or American, it does not make any difference”. Its remark came while hearing a PIL seeking a direction to the Centre to block access to DeepSeek, an AI chatbot recently developed by Chinese entities, in all forms in India as it posed a threat to the safety and privacy of citizens.
“It is not that the govt is unaware of these things. They are very well aware…,” a bench of Chief Justice D K Upadhyaya and Justice Tushar Rao Gedela said. While the bench was inclined to dispose of the petition, the Centre’s counsel submitted that the issue requires consideration and urged the court to grant some time to get instructions in the matter. HC then listed the matter for Feb 20 to enable the Centre’s counsel to get complete instructions.
The plea seeks to protect the personal data of citizens as well as the data in govt systems and devices from cyber attacks and data breaches, and uphold the confidentiality of govt data and documents.
