Global South convenes on AI safety and governance
The Conclave brings together a diverse roster of international and Indian experts, policymakers and civil society representatives. Speakers include Thiru Dr. T.R.B. Rajaa (Tamil Nadu Minister for Industries, Investment Promotion & Commerce), Prof. V. Kamakoti (Director, IIT Madras), Sriraam Natarajan (University of Texas at Dallas) and Prof. Balaraman Ravindran (Head, WSAI, IIT Madras), who chairs the Safe & Trusted AI Working Group.
Organisers emphasise that holding the India-AI Summit in the Global South for the first time elevates regional perspectives on AI safety, enabling solutions that reflect socio-economic diversity and technology access realities across developing countries.
Translating principles into practice
Panels and working sessions will focus on operationalising core responsible AI principles fairness, accountability, transparency and robustness into governance models that are enforceable and scalable. Delegates will examine regulatory roadmaps, audit frameworks, incident response mechanisms and public-interest redressal channels tailored to different legal systems.
The working agenda centres on moving beyond high-level declarations to concrete tools such as certification schemes, compliance checklists, and interoperable standards that regulators and industry can adopt.
Building an AI Safety Commons for the Global South
A major objective is to advance an “AI Safety Commons” a shared platform of datasets, benchmarks and governance resources that the Global South can use to develop safer AI systems. Experts will discuss mechanisms for curated, privacy-preserving datasets, context-appropriate evaluation metrics, and cooperative benchmark development that avoids bias toward high-resource settings.
Speakers will explore how shared infrastructure can accelerate trustworthy AI research while protecting sensitive data and respecting domestic legal frameworks.
Working Group: shaping the India-AI Summit roadmap
The closed-door Safe & Trusted AI Working Group, chaired by Prof. Ravindran, will synthesise the Conclave’s recommendations and identify priority deliverables for the India-AI Impact Summit 2026. Outcomes are expected to include draft policy templates, capacity-building modules, and proposals for multi-stakeholder pilot projects aimed at validating governance tools in real-world deployments.
These deliverables will be presented to Summit organisers as inputs to the larger February event at Bharat Mandapam, aligning national and international efforts on AI governance.
Cross-sectoral participation and capacity building
Attendance spans government (MeitY officials and IndiaAI Mission members), industry leaders, research institutions, civil society and international organisations. Sessions will highlight capacity needs regulatory training, audit expertise, and localised research capacity with proposals for joint fellowships, exchange programmes and technical assistance for low-resource jurisdictions.
Why this matters
As AI systems permeate public services and private platforms, establishing pragmatic governance that safeguards rights while enabling innovation is critical. The Chennai Conclave represents a tactical move to align global expertise around context-sensitive policy instruments an effort that could set benchmarks for other Global South nations pursuing responsible AI at scale.
The Conclave’s outputs will help shape the India-AI Impact Summit 2026 and contribute to global debates on making AI safe, trusted and inclusive.
