AI Governance Conference in Chennai Focuses on Ethics, Data Protection and Legal Frameworks

A conference titled “AI Governance: Ethics, Data Protection and Legal Framework” was jointly organized by the Deccan Centre for International Relations (DCIR), Chennai; Dhirubhai Ambani University – School of Law, Gandhinagar; and IITM Pravartak, Chennai, with support from the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), Government of India, on April 28, 2026, at the Pullman Hotel in Chennai.

According to a statement, the conference served as a focused platform for multi-stakeholder dialogue among “policymakers, technologists, legal experts, industry leaders, and academics” from South India. It aimed to translate the outcomes of the India AI Impact Summit 2026 — including the MANAV Vision, the Three Sutras, “People, Planet, Progress,” and the Seven Chakras — into actionable regional roadmaps.

Deliberations examined key challenges in “AI ethics, data protection, liability, bias, sovereign AI,” and explored the development of an “inclusive, human-centric Indian model of AI governance.”

The inaugural session featured a virtual address by Chief Guest S. Krishnan, Secretary, MeitY. This was followed by a keynote address by Prof. B. Ravindran, Head of the Department of Data Science and Artificial Intelligence and Centre for Responsible AI (CeRAI) at IIT Madras, which, according to the statement, set the tone for the day’s discussions.

The conference included three thematic sessions. The first session, “Sovereign AI & Opportunities,” was organized by IITM Pravartak and featured speakers Dr. Gaurav Raina and Lt. Gen. Karanbir Singh Brar (Retd.). The second session, “Legal & Regulatory Frameworks for Responsible AI,” was organized by Dhirubhai Ambani University – School of Law, with speakers Sudha Hooda, Anirudh Rastogi, Akshaya Suresh, and Parishrut Jassal, and was moderated by Dr. Vini Singh. The third session, “Towards an Inclusive Indian Model for Global AI Governance,” was organized by DCIR and featured Vibhav Mithal, Deepa Karthykeyan, Jagan Nathan Vaman, and Shreeppriya Gopalakrishnan.

A special address was delivered by Vanitha Venugopal, CEO of Tamil Nadu Technology Hub (iTNT).

“The event witnessed active participation from representatives of foreign missions in Chennai, members of the media, academics, industry professionals, legal experts, and strategic thinkers,” the statement noted. “Engaging discussions and enlightening questions from the audience enriched the deliberations and underscored the importance of collaborative efforts in shaping responsible AI governance.”

The statement added that the conference marks a significant step in strengthening South India’s voice in global AI governance discourse and in building capacity for “ethical, inclusive, and development-oriented AI frameworks.”

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