Unlocking AI for Social Good: Digital Readiness and the Road Ahead

This seminar serves as an official pre-summit event of the AI Impact Summit 2026, contributing grounded insights from indigenous and mountain contexts to national and global conversations on ethical AI, Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI), and inclusive innovation.

As part of the AI Impact Summit 2026, this stakeholders’ seminar brings together policymakers, academics, civil society actors, technologists, and development practitioners to examine how Artificial Intelligence can be responsibly designed and deployed for Indigenous and Mountain Communities.

The seminar moves beyond generic AI narratives to develop context-specific, inclusive, and socially grounded AI frameworks that respond to the lived realities of geographically remote, ecologically sensitive, and historically underserved regions.

Objectives

• To contextualise AI for Social Good within indigenous, mountain, and remote geographies
• To identify foundational, policy, and infrastructure readiness required for inclusive AI adoption
• To explore localised AI approaches that respect cultural knowledge systems, language diversity, and community agency
• To strengthen dialogue on data governance, last-mile digital infrastructure, and AI literacy
• To inform pathways for ethical AI as Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI)

Key Discussion Areas

• Contextualising AI beyond urban and generic use-cases
• Building resilient last-mile digital and AI infrastructure
• Developing reliable, inclusive, and community-centred data governance systems
• Financing and policy readiness for AI for Social Good
• Expanding AI and digital literacy beyond formal education
• Creating regional and local pools of AI-ready human resources

Programme Highlights

Morning Session | Setting the Vision

• Inaugural Session and Seminar Objectives
• Technical Deliberation I: Contextualising AI for Social Good
• Moderated Panel Discussion on localised AI approaches for regions and states

Afternoon Session | Building Foundational Readiness

• Technical Deliberation II: Policy, Infrastructure & Financing Readiness
• Moderated Panel Discussion on practical implementation pathways

Closing Session | The Way Forward

• Concluding reflections and recommendations
• Way forward for ethical, inclusive, and region-responsive AI

Event Details

Date: 29 January 2026
Time: 10:00 AM – 4:00 PM
Venue: Department of Information Technology, Gauhati University

Organised By

• Council for Social & Digital Development (CSDD)
• Digital Empowerment Foundation (DEF)
• Department of Information Technology, Gauhati University