TLDR: A recent webinar hosted by YourStory in partnership with Microsoft and SAP explored the critical aspects of building trust in AI governance for India’s evolving digital landscape. Experts highlighted India’s pragmatic approach, balancing innovation with robust safety measures and emphasizing transparency and accountability in AI deployment.
As artificial intelligence continues to reshape public service delivery globally, the imperative of establishing citizen trust while leveraging AI’s transformative capabilities remains a central challenge. This was the core focus of a recent YourStory webinar, held in collaboration with Microsoft and SAP, titled ‘AI in Governance: Building Trust, Ensuring Accountability, and Shaping Policy in the Digital Age’. The session, which took place on October 8, 2025, brought together prominent voices to discuss diverse national strategies for AI governance.
The distinguished panel included Sandeep Aurora, Group Director and Head of Public Policy at Microsoft India & South Asia, and Dr. Lovneesh Chanana, Asia Pacific Head of Government Affairs at SAP. The discussion was expertly moderated by Gunjan Patel, Director of AI Skills for Social Impact at Microsoft India.
India’s approach to AI governance was a key highlight, characterized by its pragmatic and balanced stance. Unlike some regions that have opted for early, stringent regulations, India is prioritizing both innovation and risk mitigation simultaneously. Sandeep Aurora elaborated on this, stating, “India has taken a very enabling and pragmatic approach towards AI development, as opposed to very stringent regulations some regions might have taken that might be very premature.” He further emphasized India’s AI mission, which equally balances the ‘safe and trusted’ pillar with efforts to ensure widespread understanding, adoption, and skill development among its populace.
The government’s commitment to this balanced strategy is evident in the establishment of an AI Safety Institute. This initiative aims to address technical safety concerns without imposing heavy-handed regulations that could stifle innovation. Practical applications of this approach are already visible, such as the Reserve Bank of India’s AI committee for the banking sector, which promotes AI adoption while implementing specific safeguards for critical applications like credit scoring.
The webinar underscored that fostering public trust in AI necessitates embedding principles of transparency and accountability directly into the design and development processes, rather than merely outlining them in policy documents. This involves creating multi-layered governance structures, including ethical AI advisory committees, implementing human oversight panels for critical decisions, and maintaining comprehensive audit trails to ensure accountability.
Participants gained valuable insights into the evolving regulatory landscape, including comparative analyses of emerging frameworks like the EU AI Act and India’s proposed AI policy. The session also delved into core governance principles such as ethics, fairness, and human oversight, drawing practical examples from Microsoft’s Responsible AI frameworks. Strategies for risk mitigation, encompassing bias detection, data privacy safeguards, and security controls, were also thoroughly addressed.
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In conclusion, the webinar conveyed that effective AI governance is not a binary choice between innovation and safety. Instead, it requires building adaptive systems capable of evolving alongside technological advancements. India’s inclusive and transparent approach, which balances enabling policies with appropriate safeguards, presents a potential model for other nations navigating similar challenges in integrating AI into their governance structures.
