The JSW Centre for the Future of Law (JSW CFL) is co-organising a consultation on “AI, Rights and Accountability: Social Protection and Justice Delivery” with LibTech India, the NHRC Chair on Human Rights, NLSIU, and the Social Accountability Forum for Action and Research (SAFAR) on 23–24 September 2026.

This is a two-day consultation open to the NLS Community and by invitation only.

Theme, Background and Purpose

Over the past decade, welfare delivery in India has increasingly relied on digital technologies. These include beneficiary databases, Aadhaar-based authentication, electronic payments and automated processes. These systems have created new possibilities for administration and access. However, experience from the ground shows that they can also create or reproduce exclusion. AI is now being added to these systems. It could strengthen welfare delivery and grievance redressal, but it could also repeat existing errors, introduce new forms of opacity and amplify historical inequities.

The consultation will explore the relationship between AI and social welfare from the perspective of human rights and accountability. It will be organised around five questions:

1. What changes when welfare moves from digitisation and automation towards AI?
2. Where can AI improve welfare delivery, and where might it deepen exclusion?
3. Who decides when AI affects a person’s entitlement?
4. Can AI strengthen citizens, civil society organisations and frontline workers?
5. What forms of accountability are necessary as AI enters welfare systems?

Participants and Approach

The consultation will bring together grassroots organisations working in Karnataka, accountability organisations, researchers, legal scholars, journalists, technologists and people from grassroots communities. Instead of conventional panels, the programme will combine short framing presentations, concrete welfare cases from pensions, employment guarantees, food security and farmer support, moderated conversations and small-group discussions.

Expected Outcomes

The consultation is exploratory and is intended as the beginning of a longer conversation. It aims to build a shared understanding of how AI may affect welfare administration and to identify key concerns and principles. It will also begin discussions on the legal and regulatory frameworks needed, drawing on domestic and international human rights standards, and identify directions for future research and collaboration.

Find the concept note of the consultation here.