The Supreme Court has stayed proceedings before the Gujarat High Court on a public interest litigation seeking regulation of artificial intelligence (AI)-generated deepfake content, while considering the Centre’s plea to have the case transferred to the apex court.

A Bench headed by Chief Justice of India Surya Kant and comprising Justice Joymalya Bagchi and Justice V Mohana issued notice on the Union government’s transfer petition and made the notice returnable on October 5. The Bench, meanwhile, directed that proceedings in the Gujarat High Court be kept in abeyance until further orders.

Advocate Zoheb Hossain, appearing for the central government, told the Bench that proceedings concerning similar pleas before other high courts had already been stayed by the Supreme Court and that those matters had subsequently come before the apex court.

The Gujarat High Court proceedings arise from a PIL filed by Vikas Vijay Nair seeking a comprehensive regulatory mechanism to address the misuse of AI, particularly the creation and dissemination of deepfake photographs and videos. The plea has raised specific concerns over deepfakes involving constitutional and statutory authorities.  In April, the Gujarat High Court had sought responses from several major online platforms, including Meta India, Google, X, Reddit and Scribd, on the PIL and its demand for measures to curb AI-generated deepfake material.

The issue is also being examined in proceedings before other high courts. Petitions concerning the regulation and misuse of AI-generated and deepfake content are pending before the Karnataka and Bombay high courts. Those proceedings have involved, among others, X Corp, DigiPub News Foundation, stand-up comedian Kunal Kamra and senior advocate Haresh Jagtiani.