Chennai: The Wadhwani School of Data Science and Artificial Intelligence (WSAI) at IIT Madras, through its Centre for Responsible AI (CeRAI), hosted the 'Conclave on AI Governance', a pre-summit event of the India-AI Impact Summit 2026, focusing on safe, trustworthy, fair, and inclusive AI in India and the Global South.

The event featured keynote addresses by Shri Abhishek Singh, CEO of IndiaAI Mission, and virtual participation from top policymakers. Prof. V. Kamakoti, Director, IIT Madras, highlighted the need for governance frameworks that prevent AI misuse without stifling innovation, while Prof. B. Ravindran, Head, WSAI, emphasized multi-stakeholder participation to build a human-centric AI ecosystem.

The conclave unveiled several pioneering initiatives:

“The Algorithmic-Human Manager” report, examining AI's impact on India's gig economy and advocating balanced safeguards for workers.
AI Incident Reporting Framework for India, proposing a federated database and central reporting portal for AI incidents.
PolicyBot, an open-source chatbot for accessible policy and legal guidance.
IndiCASA Dataset, supporting bias detection in AI models specific to Indian socio-demographic contexts.
AI Evaluation Tool, providing a systematic, scalable framework to evaluate conversational AI systems.
COIN Network, a global collaborative platform leveraging co-intelligence to benefit society and enterprises.

The conclave also included discussions on Safe and Trusted AI, Inclusion, and Human Augmentation, alongside panel sessions addressing voluntary frameworks, participatory AI, and thriving in co-intelligence ecosystems.

Notable international speakers included Prof. Srinivasan Parthasarathy (Ohio State University), Prof. Venkatram Ramaswamy (University of Michigan), and Ms. Urvashi Aneja (Digital Futures Lab), who shared insights on responsible AI integration, human-AI collaboration, and socio-technical risk management.

This initiative reinforces IIT Madras WSAI's commitment to responsible AI development, capacity building, and shaping inclusive governance frameworks, contributing valuable inputs to the India-AI Impact Summit 2026.