The Government of Karnataka has constituted a Committee on Responsible Artificial Intelligence (AI) to develop a comprehensive framework to guide the safe, ethical and transparent adoption of AI across government systems and public services.
The committee, chaired by Kris Gopalakrishnan, Co-founder of Infosys, and co-chaired by Dr. N. Manjula, Secretary, Department of Electronics, IT, Biotechnology and Science & Technology, Government of Karnataka, brings together leading experts from industry, academia, policy and law.
The first meeting of the committee was held today in Bengaluru, where members discussed the rapidly evolving AI landscape and the need to establish strong governance frameworks to ensure the responsible use of AI technologies, particularly in systems that impact citizens.
The committee will develop a Responsible AI policy and implementation roadmap for Karnataka, aimed at enabling innovation while ensuring that AI systems deployed across government are safe, fair, transparent and accountable.
Speaking on the initiative, Shri Priyank Kharge, Hon’ble Minister for Electronics, IT, Biotechnology and Rural Development & Panchayat Raj, Government of Karnataka 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. The Responsible AI Committee brings together leading experts from industry, academia and policy to help shape a governance framework that promotes innovation while safeguarding transparency, accountability and citizen trust. This initiative will help Karnataka continue to lead in building an AI ecosystem that is both cutting-edge and responsible.”
Mr Kris Gopalakrishnan, Chairperson, Committee on Responsible Artificial Intelligence, said, “I compliment the Government of Karnataka for creating this Committee on Responsible AI. 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. By harnessing AI thoughtfully and responsibly, we can accelerate the growth of the economy significantly. I thank the Government of Karnataka for setting up this committee and entrusting us with this important responsibility.”
During the meeting, members discussed key areas that the committee will focus on while developing the framework, including:
– Establishing Responsible AI principles and policy guidelines for the State, aligned with India’s AI governance guidelines and global best practices, including legality, fairness, non-discrimination, privacy, safety, security, transparency, accountability, human oversight, inclusion and national interest.
– Developing a 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 in alignment with the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, sectoral laws and India’s Digital Public Infrastructure.
– Identifying AI practices that should be prohibited or restricted, including social scoring of citizens, unlawful or disproportionate surveillance, discriminatory profiling or exclusion, and high-stakes automated decision-making without meaningful human oversight.
– Recommending safeguards, approvals and review mechanisms for high-risk AI applications in sectors such as welfare delivery, healthcare, education, policing, recruitment, financial decision-making and public safety.
– Defining data governance and privacy safeguards for AI systems, including standards for data quality, provenance, representativeness, purpose limitation, anonymisation, retention and secure data-sharing protocols, aligned with India’s Digital Personal Data Protection Act.
– Establishing transparency and accountability mechanisms, including disclosure when citizens interact with AI-enabled systems, explainability standards for AI-assisted decisions and mechanisms for human review, grievance redressal and appeal in cases of erroneous or discriminatory outcomes.
– Recommending independent audits, cybersecurity safeguards and incident response protocols to address risks such as bias, adversarial attacks, data poisoning, model manipulation, deepfakes and misuse of generative AI systems.
– Examining the implications of generative AI and social media technologies, including risks related to synthetic content, misinformation, algorithmic amplification and potential societal or electoral manipulation, and recommending safeguards to mitigate such risks.
– Developing Responsible AI procurement guidelines and vendor due-diligence frameworks for AI systems adopted by government departments, including provisions related to data use, documentation, audit rights, security obligations and transparency of training data.
– Recommending capacity-building initiatives and AI literacy programmes for government officials, along with identifying priority AI use-cases for pilot deployment across departments and developing evaluation frameworks for safe and responsible scale-up.
The committee includes senior leaders and experts from leading technology companies, academic institutions and industry bodies, including representatives from IBM, Accenture, Kyndryl, Wipro, IIIT Bangalore and NASSCOM, along with experts in AI policy, law and governance.
The Managing Director of the Karnataka Innovation and Technology Society (KITS) will serve as the Member Secretary of the committee.
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.
Through this initiative, Karnataka aims to strengthen its leadership in emerging technologies while ensuring that AI innovation is deployed responsibly, ethically and in the best interests of citizens.