The Asia Society Policy Institute has outlined key insights from a roundtable in New Delhi, focusing on the role of Digital Public Infrastructure in AI governance ahead of the 2026 AI Impact Summit.
December 5, 2025 — New Delhi: The Asia Society Policy Institute (ASPI) has released a comprehensive summary of insights from a high-level, closed-door roundtable held in New Delhi. This event took place in anticipation of the upcoming 2026 AI Impact Summit and shortly after India introduced the Digital Data Protection Act Rules along with its latest AI governance guidelines.
The roundtable centered on how Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) can serve as a foundational techno-legal framework for ensuring safe, equitable, and accountable AI governance in India.
Arun Teja Polcumpally, a JSW Science and Technology Fellow at ASPI Delhi and the author of the summary, emphasized the need for India’s AI governance framework to evolve in parallel with DPI. He stated, “For DPI to support responsible AI, it must be designed with built-in safeguards—fairness, inclusivity, equitable data access, privacy protection, secure interoperability, and broad scalability.”
During the session, participants put forth several strategic recommendations aimed at shaping India’s contributions to the discussions at the 2026 AI Impact Summit. They highlighted the necessity of robust legal and policy frameworks to implement DPIs as effective techno-legal tools for AI governance.
Furthermore, the participants noted that DPIs could facilitate AI development and deployment cycles by providing verifiable and transparent governance mechanisms. They stressed the importance of continuous investment, updates, and modernization of DPI systems to keep pace with the rapidly advancing landscape of AI technologies.
International cooperation was also underscored as essential for building open, secure, and transparent AI ecosystems. The group proposed that India should develop an open-source toolkit for designing DPI-based techno-legal mechanisms for AI governance, collaborating with global partners in a manner akin to the Universal DPI Safeguards framework.
Additionally, the roundtable participants recommended providing free or low-cost access to critical AI infrastructure. This includes GPU-based compute power, open-source AI models, regulatory sandboxes, and curated public datasets, all of which would help accelerate safe and responsible AI innovation.
In conjunction with these discussions, ASPI is hosting several upcoming events that delve into related topics. One such event is the launch of the “China 2026: What to Watch” report on December 10, featuring a keynote conversation with Ian Bremmer and panel discussions with leading experts on China.
Another event, scheduled for December 11, will focus on the evolving dynamics of U.S.-India relations, examining the developments that have affected ties in 2025 and the implications for the unfinished trade deal.
On December 16, ASPI will host a discussion on the risks and opportunities facing the U.S.-Japan alliance, featuring a panel of experts from various fields.
Members of the media interested in attending these events or accessing embargoed versions of the reports are encouraged to reach out via email to pr@asiasociety.org.
These initiatives reflect ASPI’s commitment to fostering dialogue and collaboration on critical issues surrounding AI governance and international relations, as highlighted in the recent roundtable discussions.
According to Asia Society Policy Institute.