Surveillance, social scoring discussed in Karnataka’s first AI panel meeting

Bengaluru: Aimed at developing a responsible AI policy and a roadmap for its implementation, the Karnataka government has constituted a committee chaired by Infosys co-founder Kris Gopalakrishnan and co-chaired by N Manjula, Secretary, Department of Electronics, IT, Biotechnology, and S&T. The 13-member committee includes other members drawn from industry, academia, policy and law.

The committee is tasked with developing a comprehensive framework to guide the safe, ethical and transparent adoption of AI across government systems and public services. It aims to enable innovation while ensuring that AI systems deployed across the government are safe, fair, transparent and accountable.

During the first meeting on Thursday, the members of the committee discussed identifying AI practices that should be restricted, including social scoring of citizens, unlawful or disproportionate surveillance, discriminatory profiling or exclusion and high-stakes automated decision-making without meaningful human oversight.

They discussed the evolving AI landscape and the need to establish a governance framework to ensure the responsible use of AI, particularly in systems that impact citizens. Through this initiative, Karnataka aims to strengthen its leadership in emerging technologies.

Complimenting the government for constituting the committee, Gopalakrishnan said, “Artificial Intelligence is a highly disruptive technology, and we are already seeing its potential to significantly accelerate the growth of Karnataka’s economy. If we are able to leverage this opportunity effectively, Karnataka can become the first state in the country to develop a comprehensive framework for responsible AI — one that drives better citizen services, creates the jobs of the 21st century, and strengthens our innovation ecosystem.”

Members also discussed various issues, including establishing responsible AI principles and policy guidelines for the state, aligned with India’s AI governance guidelines and global best practices, risk classification framework for AI systems used in governance, categorising applications based on potential impact and risk levels and recommending a Responsible AI Policy framework for adoption across government departments.

The committee will submit an interim report within 60 days and a final set of recommendations within 90 days, outlining a policy framework, risk classification system and implementation roadmap for responsible AI adoption across government.

The managing director of the Karnataka Innovation and Technology Society (KITS) will serve as the Member Secretary of the committee.

Other members of the committee are: Ajay Vij, country managing director, Accenture India; Lingraju Sawkar, president, Kyndryl India; Amith Singhee, chief technology officer, IBM India/South Asia; Sanjeev Jain, chief operating officer, Wipro; Prof Debabrata Das, director, IIIT Bangalore; Bhaskar Verma, regional director, Nasscom; Vivek Raghavan, co-founder, Sarvam AI; Ashok Kamath, CEO, AI CoE; Dinesh Vijayakumar, legal head, IBM; Rahul Manthan, Technology, Media, and Telecom (TMT) Head, Trilegal.