We are getting too comfortable with AI, and this IPL season didn’t help

What’s particularly concerning is the lack of oversight from regulators and consumer protection authorities, about the messaging emerging from these AI campaigns

The Indian Premier League (IPL) just concluded its 19th edition. A mega festival not just for cricketing fans worldwide, but for sponsors that tried to convert the tournament’s 500 million-odd unique viewers into brand engagement. Whether it was Vodafone’s ZooZoos that became synonymous with an entire generation, or CRED’s campaigns that turned gentlemen like Rahul Dravid into gundas, big money (roughly Rs 6,000 crore this year) is poured into influencing people towards new choices.

This season, however, it was all about artificial intelligence (AI) — but maybe not the ‘responsible’ kind.

Let’s start by looking at Google. The Silicon Valley giant secured a three-year sponsorship deal with the league (up until 2028), worth an estimated Rs 270 crore to promote its Gemini platform. The advertiser’s ask was simple: Nudge people to replace Google Search with AI Mode. In between overs, commentators plugged in scenarios from the match into AI Mode and requested for an analysis — essentially spoon-feeding users on how to prompt AI, and giving them ideas about the now evolving use-cases of a search bar.

Search is not just limited to fact-finding anymore, instead, it is a conversation resulting in analysis and opinion. The irony of this was that commentators were advertising a product that’s essentially doing their job. But, more importantly, viewers were being influenced into specific patterns around AI use.

These advertisements normalised having conversations with a model, and relying on opinions produced by an LLM, even though research shows that answers produced by Google’s AI overviews are often linked to websites that do not completely support the information they provide. It’s also an attempt to fundamentally reshape how people access information.

Earlier, we used a search engine that provided multiple references. Although these were still subject to personalisation and SEO, they still contained an element of detachment and placed the onus on the reader to discern right from wrong, and arrive at informed opinions. While this is definitely one of the larger critiques around AI use and how it will affect people’s cognitive abilities, targeting these advertisements towards the IPL’s 400 million youth audience pushes a narrative that AI overviews are accurate and reliable, making people less critical of AI-generated information.

Now, let’s shift our focus to OpenAI. One advertisement shows a lawyer walking into an office desk empty-handed, much to the surprise of her colleagues who are sitting on large backlogs. How did she manage to pull this off? She prompted ChatGPT to help her ‘set up a system to clear her backlogs’. This completely overlooks some of the implications around uploading sensitive legal data to a machine-learning model. In other words, this is telling impressionable viewers that it is safe to feed personal information to an AI platform. To make matters worse, OpenAI also launched #FullFanMode, a custom GPT for fans to upload a photo and turn it into a personalised poster in their team's colours, which they can share on Instagram Stories for a chance to win match tickets.

For the makers of ChatGPT, this is just strategic marketing. As OpenAI India’s head of marketing puts it, “given the scale and cultural relevance of cricket, the sport is a natural way for OpenAI to connect with consumers in the country.” This is precisely what drives the price for IPL advertisements. Advertisers realise the value of being placed on screen during BCCI’s flagship event, even if it’s for a few seconds. However, what’s particularly concerning is the lack of oversight from regulators and consumer protection authorities, about the messaging emerging from these campaigns.

For a country that recently hosted the AI Summit and positioned itself as the use-case capital, it’s critical to raise mass awareness about the risks associated with sharing personal data with AI models, and prevent behavioural shifts that may effectively dilute critical thinking capabilities in the world’s largest democracy. If advertisements that promote mutual funds, payment platforms, alcohol companies, and energy drinks can be run with disclaimers, AI must be met with the same treatment.

Let’s also not forget the elephant in the room — the amount of energy needed to run AI for simple use-cases like search. Increasing usage of AI will require re-evaluating how people become active contributors to goals like net-zero 2070. These can’t be restricted to measures like car-pooling and work-from-home, but will require raising consumer consciousness around individual carbon footprints.

Some may argue that these risks and harms are speculative. In that case, the BCCI and consumer protection authorities can start by paying more attention to tangible harms like scammers using ChatGPT to set up counterfeit ticket-selling platforms.

If we are to build a responsible digital ecosystem for a youth population like ours, it’s important to reclaim agency over technology use. The current imposition of AI, without adequate measures to inform people about potential harms, only serves Big Tech objectives.

This does not bode well for a nation that places such strong aspirations on being a leader in the global AI landscape.

Rohan Pai is a Senior Associate at Aapti Institute.