Thematic Groups
In the lead-up to the Summit in 2026, seven thematic working groups have been constituted in order to steer discussions at the Summit. We participated in three consultations organized by the Chairs of the Working Groups on the themes of Human Capital, Resilience, Innovation and Efficiency, and Democratizing AI Resources.
In tea lead up to the summit we alse released ReGenAI
Events organized by us:
Cultural Rights, Innovation, and Development in the AI moment: Towards a Public Domain Framing
17 February 2026
IT for Change convened the roundtable ‘Cultural Rights, Innovation, and Development in the AI moment: Towards a public domain framing’ at India International Centre, New Delhi. The roundtable brought together policy and legal experts, creators, artists, researchers, and development justice organizations to surface challenges and imagine alternative governance possibilities to protect and promote cultural rights and epistemic justice for the AI moment.
AI Governance from the South: Red Lines to Baselines
18 February 2026
IT for Change, together with partner organizations, convened the roundtable ‘AI Governance from the South: Redlines to Baselines’ at India International Centre, New Delhi.
The roundtable brought together more than 40 leading civil society organizations, researchers, and policy practitioners from across the Global South, joined by allied institutions from the North, to reframe prevailing AI governance debates. Moving beyond discussions on harmful use-cases or downstream risk-mitigation, participants focused on identifying non-negotiable structural baselines across the AI value chain — the political, economic, and ecological conditions necessary to ensure that AI systems are compatible with human rights, social justice, and planetary sustainability.
Steering DPI & AI Innovation Towards Public Value Maximisation: The Role of Governments in Safeguarding Data Agency
18 February 2026
In order to unpack what the term 'public' in digital public infrastructures means, especially in the era of AI, IT for Change organized a multistakeholder dialogue that brought together governments, public interest technologists, civil society, and academia on the sidelines of the India AI Impact Summit 2026. Co-organised by the Government of Australia, IT for Change, Project Liberty Institute and Global Solutions Initiative, this 90-minute closed-door dialogue explored the nuts and bolts of the institutional framework to steward AI and digital infrastructure for public value and collective well-being, as well as outline policy pathways that can help realise the vision of democratic and accountable AI infrastructures.
Events we participated in:
Convenings Part of MAP-AI Initiative
Anita was invited to speak at the plenary panel, ‘Plenary panel: Global South Leadership in AI Governance’ on 17 February 2026 at the India International Centre, Delhi. She was also invited to take part in a closed in-person breakfast roundtable is convened as part of the MAP-AI initiative on the sidelines of the India AI Impact Summit organized by Centre for Communication Governance (CCG) at National Law University Delhi and the Global Network Initiative (GNI) with the goal of elevating civil society, academic, and Global Majority perspectives in policy debates and decision-making processes.
Panel on Women in AI: A South Asia Outlook on Representation, Equity and Empowerment
Anita Gurumurthy spoke at a panel on ‘Women in AI: A South Asia Outlook on Representation, Equity and Empowerment’, a focused, multi-stakeholder dialogue on building gender-inclusive and ethical AI ecosystems in South Asia organized by UN Women, UNESCO, LinkedIn, The Quantum Hub (TQH), Women for Ethical AI (W4EAI) South Asian Chapter, and Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham on 16 February 2026.
Panel Discussion Towards a Multilateral Agreement on Enforcing Red Lines
Anita Gurumurthy spoke at a panel, ‘Towards Multilateral Agreement on Enforcing Red Lines’, that panel will bring together governments and experts to discuss the potential for a multilateral agreement on AI governance, the need for agreement on unacceptable risks and harms across the AI value chain, and for establishing multilateral commitment on enforcement mechanisms that address them. The event was organized by Ada Lovelace Institute on 18 February 2026.
Roundtable on Decentralized Data Marketplace
Abhineet Nayyar offered inputs on conceptual gaps and operational limitations to this closed-door roundtable organized by ORF to gather ecosystem feedback on their idea for a 'Decentralised Data Marketplace'.
Roundtable on Harnessing AI for Social Empowerment
Sadhana Sanjay spoke at this roundtable, organized by JustJobs Network and IDRC, intended to explore how AI can be leveraged for social empowerment.
Panel on ‘Widening Civic Participation in AI Governance’
Shobhit S. participated in this symposium as a member of the Network on how participatory practices can shape AI governance at national and global levels, emphasizing the need to go beyond procedural inclusion.