Safeguarding Children In India’s AI future: Towards Child-Centric AI Policy and Governance

INDIA AI IMPACT SUMMIT 2026

PANEL DISCUSSION

SAFEGUARDING CHILDREN IN INDIA’S AI FUTURE: TOWARDS CHILD-CENTRIC AI POLICY AND GOVERNANCE

Organizer: Institute for Governance, Policies & Politics (IGPP)

Event Type: Panel Discussion

Date: 17 February 2026

Time: 09:30- 10:25 AM, IST (55 Minutes)

Venue: West Wing, Room 4B, Bharat Mandapam, New Delhi

Theme Alignment: Safe and Trusted AI, Inclusion for Social Empowerment

BACKGROUND & RATIONALE

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is rapidly reshaping the everyday environments in which children in India learn, play, communicate, behave and grow. From adaptive learning platforms and educational assessment tools to social media recommendation systems, gaming environments, surveillance technologies and generative AI applications, children are increasingly interacting with AI-driven systems, often without adequate safeguards, awareness, or agency.

India stands at a critical inflection point. As the country advances ambitious national AI strategies and positions, itself as a global AI leader, the governance choices made today will have long-term consequences for children’s rights, safety, dignity and development. Children are not merely ‘users’ of AI systems; they are deeply embedded within algorithmic ecosystems that mediate opportunities and risks. Despite this reality, children remain largely peripheral within AI governance frameworks. Existing policy approaches often treat child safety as a subset of content moderation or cybercrime, rather than as a systemic governance issue encompassing data protection, design choices, accountability mechanisms, and power asymmetries between platforms and young users. This discussion seeks to formulate actionable recommendations for embedding child-centric digital regulation in India’s AI policy framework.

Register Here: https://forms.gle/afCDKaY3Gn7MRqWT8

WHY THIS DISCUSSION MATTERS

Children constitute one of the most vulnerable and least empowered stakeholder groups in the AI ecosystem. AI systems can amplify existing harms such as discrimination, manipulation, addiction, and data exploitation, while also creating new forms of risk, including algorithmic profiling, automated behavioural nudging and persistent digital footprints that follow children into adulthood.

There is an urgent need to move beyond reactive, incident-driven responses and towards proactive, child-centric AI governance that embeds children’s rights and best interests into the design, deployment, and regulation of AI systems.

OBJECTIVES OF THE PANEL DISCUSSION

This panel aims to:

1. Reframe child safety as a core AI governance concern rather than a peripheral or post-hoc issue
2. Assess gaps in existing Indian legal, policy and institutional frameworks in addressing AI-related risks to children
3. Explore international best practices and rights-based approaches relevant to India’s socio-technical context
4. Develop actionable recommendations for embedding child-centric principles within India’s evolving AI policy and regulatory frameworks
5. Foster cross-sector understanding (policy, tech, education, child welfare) on safe AI for children.

KEY THEMES FOR DISCUSSION

1. Child Safety as a Foundational AI Governance Principle: Reframing child safety from a reactive or peripheral concern to a core design, deployment, and governance imperative within India’s AI ecosystem.
2. Legal, Policy and Institutional Gaps in Protecting Children from AI Harms: Critically assessing existing Indian legal and regulatory frameworks, institutional mandates, and enforcement capacities to identify blind spots, overlaps and gaps in addressing AI-related risks to children.
3. Learning from Global and Rights-Based Approaches to Child-Centric AI: Exploring international best practices, child rights-based frameworks and global governance models to understand what lessons can be meaningfully adapted to India’s socio-technical realities without importing one-size-fits-all solutions.
4. Embedding Child-Centric Principles in India’s AI Policy Architecture: Discussing how child-centric principles can be systematically embedded within India’s evolving AI policy and regulatory frameworks.
5. From Principles to Practice: Actionable Pathways for Policy and Industry: Identifying practical, implementable recommendations for policymakers, regulators, technology developers, and platforms to operationalise child-centric AI governance while enabling innovation.

EXPECTED OUTCOMES

Safeguarding children in India’s AI future is not merely a matter of protection, it is a question of how India defines responsible innovation, democratic accountability and intergenerational justice. By centering children within AI policy and governance, India has the opportunity to set a global benchmark for rights-based, inclusive and future-ready AI systems.

1. A shared, policy-relevant understanding of child safety in the context of AI
2. Identification of priority risks and regulatory blind spots affecting children in India
3. Practical, context-sensitive recommendations for policymakers, regulators, and industry stakeholders
4. Inputs to inform India’s broader AI governance discourse at the India AI Impact Summit 2026

This panel seeks to contribute meaningfully to that vision by grounding AI governance in the lived realities, rights and long-term interests of India’s children.

FLOW OF THE PANEL DISCUSSION

The session will begin with context-setting through findings from an AI and Children Opinion Poll, followed by an overview of the current policy and ecosystem landscape. It will also highlight how consultations and inputs from a wide range of stakeholders—across government, industry, civil society, practitioners and young people have been consolidated by the EEG into recommendations for a Roadmap on AI and Child Safety, which the working group will deliberate at the Summit. The panel discussion will offer a shared space to ground conversations around AI and child safety.

Panel of experts will reflect on the recommendations and discuss why child safety must remain a core priority in AI policy and practice.

Opening remarks and context setting

Time: 09:30-09:35 AM (5 Minutes)

Speaker: Dr. Manish Tiwari, Director, IGPP

Purpose: Setting the stage for the discussion by framing by child safety must be central to India’s AI journey and linking it to India’s global leadership aspirations in AI governance.

Study Insights and Evidence Sharing

Time: 09:35-09:40 AM (5 Minutes)

Speaker: Ms. Zoe Lambourne, COO, Childlight

Purpose: Ground the conversation in research evidence and emerging risk patterns affecting children interacting with AI.

Expert Engagement Group Recommendations (iSPIRT)

Time: 09:40 – 09:47 AM (7 Minutes)

Speaker: Mr. Gaurav Aggarwal, iSPIRT Foundation and Ms. Chitra Iyer, Co-founder, Space2Grow

Purpose: Summarise consolidated recommendations and highlight next steps emerging from consultations and stakeholder engagement.

Moderated Panel Discussion (Speakers from Tech Industry - Snap/ Google, Legal, Civil Society)

Time: 09:47 – 10:25 AM (43 Minutes)

1. Ms. Maya Shermon, AI Project Co-Lead (India), GPAI and Senior Tech & Innovation Advisor (ST&I Attaché), Embassy of Israel in India
2. Ms. N. S. Nappinai, Senior Advocate, Supreme Court of India
3. Ms. Uthara Ganesh, Head of Public Policy, India and South Asia, Snapchat
4. Mr. Atish Gonsalves, Head of Product, Computer Science and AI Product Experience, LEGO Education
5. Ms. Shireen Vakil, Child safety expert and Advisor, Space2Grow
6. Mr. Akash Pugalia, Chief Digital Officer, Teleperformance
7. Mr. Ashish Jaiman, Co-founder, Nedl Labs and Former Director of Product Management, Microsoft Bing (Moderator)