The Karnataka government has constituted a committee on Responsible Artificial Intelligence (AI), chaired by Kris Gopalakrishnan, Co-Founder of Infosys, to develop a policy framework guiding the safe, ethical and transparent adoption of AI across government systems and public services.
The committee will draft a Responsible AI policy and implementation roadmap for the state and submit an interim report within 60 days and a final set of recommendations within 90 days.
The panel is co-chaired by N Manjula, Secretary, Department of Electronics, IT, Biotechnology and Science & Technology.
The first meeting was held in Bengaluru on March 12, where members discussed the rapidly evolving AI landscape and the need for governance frameworks to ensure responsible deployment of AI technologies in citizen-facing systems.
According to the release, the committee brings together experts from industry, academia, policy and law, including representatives from IBM, Accenture, Kyndryl, Wipro, IIIT Bangalore and NASSCOM. The Managing Director of the Karnataka Innovation and Technology Society (KITS) will serve as the Member Secretary of the committee.
Members include Ajay Vij, Country Managing Director at Accenture India; Lingraju Sawkar, President of Kyndryl India; Amit Singhee, Chief Technology Officer at IBM India and South Asia; and Sanjeev Jain, Chief Operating Officer of Wipro.
Academic and ecosystem representation includes Prof Debabrata Das, Director of International Institute of Information Technology Bangalore; Bhaskar Verma, Regional Director at NASSCOM; Vivek Raghavan, Co-Founder of Sarvam AI; and Ashok Kamath, CEO of the AI CoE Karnataka.
The panel also includes Dinesh Vijayakumar, Legal Head at IBM, and Rahul Manthan, Technology, Media and Telecom (TMT) Head at Trilegal, bringing legal and regulatory expertise to the committee’s work.
The committee will frame principles and policy guidelines aligned with India’s AI governance approach and global best practices, covering areas such as legality, fairness, non-discrimination, privacy, transparency, accountability and human oversight. It will also develop a risk classification framework for AI systems used in governance and recommend safeguards for high-risk applications.
Speaking on the initiative, IT Minister Priyank Kharge, said, “As Karnataka enters its Deeptech Decade, the state is focused not only on accelerating AI innovation but also on ensuring that these technologies are deployed responsibly and in the public interest.”
He added that the initiative will help Karnataka continue to lead in building an AI ecosystem that is both cutting-edge and responsible.
“AI is a highly disruptive technology, and we are already seeing its potential to significantly accelerate the growth of Karnataka’s economy,” Gopalakrishnan said.
“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.”
The committee will also examine safeguards around high-risk AI deployments in sectors such as welfare delivery, healthcare, education, policing, recruitment and financial decision-making. Its recommendations will cover data governance standards, transparency requirements for AI-assisted decisions, audit mechanisms and procurement guidelines for AI systems adopted by government departments.
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