The Hidayatullah National Law University (HNLU), Raipur recently hosted a one-day online International Conference on “Emerging Jurisprudence of Artificial Intelligence (AI): The Socio-Legal Impact” on September 20, 2025.
The conference, a joint effort by HNLU’s Centre for Internet Governance and AI, School of Law and Technology and the Centre for Privacy and Data Protection, School of Law and Public Policy, aimed to explore the rapidly evolving intersection between AI and law, with a focus on its ethical, regulatory, and societal challenges.
The conference had former Chief Justice of the Orissa High Court, Justice S Muralidhar as the Chief Guest. In his address, he highlighted that the data is collected and used by the State and private corporations much beyond the mandate, rendering ‘Data Privacy’ as a myth. He illustrated the example of the Israeli attack on Iran on how data is weaponized stressing the importance of protecting personal data from over-exposure on the web.
Addressing in the inaugural session, Vice Chancellor of HNLU Prof (Dr) VC Vivekanandan, flagged the serious concerns of regulatory vacuum, amplification of inequities, borderless operations, and rogue technologies creating a hallucination of democracy and justice delivery system.
The inaugural session was followed by a Panel Discussion on the theme, 'Regulating the Unpredictable: Legal Frameworks for Safe and Ethical AI.' The session featured a distinguished panel of experts who shared diverse perspectives.
In his opening remarks, Prof VC Vivekanandan described AI as a "genie out of the bottle" with good, bad, and ugly facets requiring serious efforts to be addressed by the legal regulatory framework to augment the benefits of AI.
Founder, RPA2AI Research, Kashyap Kompella, discussed the lack of international consensus on regulation and introduced his 'AIM-AI framework' for AI governance, which is based on the actor's intent and can anticipate future risks.
Assistant professor at Mahindra University School of Law, Dr Rishi Raj Bhardwaj highlighted India's slow pace in developing AI regulations and stressed that existing laws like the IT Act are insufficient to address AI's impact on dignity and equality.
Lecturer in Law, University of Technology, Mauritius, Dr (Mrs) Bhavna Mahadev, explained that while AI offers benefits, its reliance on data raises concerns about social exclusion and discrimination, and she concluded that effective legal frameworks must evolve to address AI-specific issues.
Finally, Beijing Normal University Law School, Prof (Dr) Hong Xue spoke on the intersection of AI and intellectual property rights. Emphasizing that while AI outputs require to be incentivised, intellectual property should remain tied to the human element of creation to avoid diluting its value.
The conference featured eight parallel technical sessions covering a wide range of themes, including 'AI in Courtroom Management and E- Justice', 'Regulatory Frameworks and Ethical Guidelines', 'Liability and Accountability in AI Systems', and 'Privacy and Data Protection' among others. The conference received 172 abstracts, from which 60 papers were selected for presentation.
The Valedictory Ceremony was graced by the Chief Guest, Senior Advocate NS Nappinai.
Nappinai pointed out crucial gaps in India’s Digital Personal Data Protection Act, specifically its lack of an effective 'right to be forgotten' for voluntarily shared data. She stressed that privacy is not about secrecy but about choice, advocating for law to adapt dynamically to protect against crimes in virtual spaces, such as the metaverse.
Earlier, addressing the gathering, Prof VC Vivekanandan also touched upon the AI impact on legal education and future lawyering analysing if AI serves as a tool or as a puppet master with the danger of churning out ‘shallow lawyers’.
The Conference was organized by HNLU faculty, Secretary, Dr Atul S Jaybhaye and Co-Secretary, Dr Priyanka Dhar.
Registrar, Dr Deepak Srivastava, and Dean Social Sciences, Dr Avinash Samal, welcomed the participants. The event was coordinated by student organising committee consisting of Preeti Talreja, Aayushka Pandey, Tanishq Tiwari and others.
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