‘We are working on safe and trusted AI for the people’: IIT Madras Director Veezhinathan Kamakoti

On the sidelines of the India AI Impact Summit 2026 at Bharat Mandapam, Vidheesha Kuntamalla spoke to Veezhinathan Kamakoti, Director, Indian Institute of Technology Madras, about what the summit seeks to achieve, India’s role in shaping global AI norms, and how educational institutions are approaching the challenges of safe, trusted and socially responsible artificial intelligence. Edited excerpts: What is AI Summit 2026? AI today is already part of everyday life. Many applications people use, from navigation to health monitoring, rely on AI for prediction and decision-making. The key question is: What impact does this intervention have on our day-to-day lives? Is that impact good or bad? And who decides what is acceptable and what is not? That is what this summit is about. It brings together stakeholders from across the world to discuss how we can amplify the good that AI can do and restrict or prevent its harmful uses. Since AI is not a single-country phenomenon — it is global — these discussions also need global consensus. What is IIT Madras’s core focus at this summit? One of the most important verticals we are working on is safe and trusted AI, led by Prof. Ravindran. For any AI system to be widely adopted, people must trust it and believe it is safe. So we are asking foundational questions: How do you define safety in AI? How do you define trust? How do you ensure that an AI system behaves reliably, ethically and predictably? This becomes especially important when you consider misuse, whether in cyber warfare, surveillance or malicious attacks, versus positive applications like healthcare prediction or early disease detection. We need common global principles to distinguish between these uses. How does this align with India’s long-term vision, especially towards Viksit Bharat 2047? At IIT Madras, our AI work is closely aligned with national priorities. One major effort is the Bharat AI Education Stack, launched recently, which focuses on education as a public good. The idea is simple but powerful: Every child should have access to a personalised AI tutor; parents should be able to understand their child’s learning trajectory; teachers should receive support in personalising instruction; and policymakers should have dashboards to track educational outcomes. This directly aligns with Sustainable Development Goal 4 — equitable, accessible and quality education for all and echoes Swami Vivekananda’s idea that if the poor cannot reach education, education must reach the poor. How can AI concretely help children and parents? AI can act as an early indicator. For instance, it can help identify learning difficulties, developmental challenges or even specific interests of a child at an early stage. These are not diagnoses, but pointer signals that can guide parents and teachers. AI can also help understand what a child is inclined towards, what engages them, and how learning can be personalised rather than standardised. Beyond education, what flagship AI projects is IIT Madras working on? We are working with several government agencies to integrate AI into public systems. Some notable efforts include opening up large-scale datasets such as the brain research database and the cancer atlas, which allow for massive AI-driven research and intervention. We also have extensive work in responsible AI, healthcare AI, and collaborations with organisations like Wadhwani AI. Many projects are underway, many of them focused on applying AI to real-world public problems. Does IIT Madras have dedicated AI degree programmes? Yes. We offer a B.Tech in AI and Data Science, an M.Tech in the same field, and a large-scale online BS programme in Data Science and Programming. The distinction is important. The B.Tech programme focuses on engineering creation — building systems, hardware-software co-design, and deep technical work. The BS programme focuses more on application — using data science tools effectively with strong theoretical grounding. Are faculty members adequately trained to teach AI, given how fast it evolves? AI is evolving rapidly, so upskilling is continuous even at the faculty level. Many faculty members themselves are enrolled in AI and data science courses. We are now creating this massive online data science course. We aspire to make more and more people understand AI and start applying it in their respective fields. Today, almost every department has AI components tailored to its discipline, AI for chemical engineering, civil engineering, and so on. This interdisciplinary integration is crucial for meaningful adoption. Has AI changed how students are assessed, especially with tools like ChatGPT? Yes, assessment methods are changing. While there are software tools including some developed in-house that can flag potential AI-generated content, the real shift is in evaluation design. Students are now asked to explain their code in detail: Why they used a particular function, how a specific logic works. If you haven’t written or deeply understood the code, you cannot convincingly explain it. Evaluation has become more rigorous and concept-focused. Writing basic code is no longer enough — higher-order thinking, problem formulation and understanding matter far more. Do you see education moving towards prompting AI rather than writing code? That shift is already beginning. A visiting professor once posed a provocative idea: can we teach programming where students don’t write a single line of code, but instead learn how to ask the right questions to a large language model? That itself is a complex skill. The future of education will likely move in that direction — from execution to intent, from syntax to reasoning. Is IIT Madras moving towards AI-driven or paperless administration? We are steadily moving towards more automated, paperless workflows. Many processes are already digital, which speeds up decision-making and file movement. However, administration still involves human judgement. Automation helps efficiency, but governance will continue to require careful oversight, especially in academic institutions. Vidheesha Kuntamalla is a Senior Correspondent at The Indian Express, based in New Delhi. She is known for her investigative reporting on higher education policy, international student immigration, and academic freedom on university campuses. Her work consistently connects policy decisions with lived realities, foregrounding how administrative actions, political pressure, and global shifts affect students, faculty, and institutions. Professional Profile Core Beat: Vidheesha covers education in Delhi and nationally, reporting on major public institutions including the University of Delhi (DU), Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), Jamia Millia Islamia, the IITs, and the IIMs. She also reports extensively on private and government schools in the National Capital Region. Prior to joining The Indian Express, she worked as a freelance journalist in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh for over a year, covering politics, rural issues, women-centric issues, and social justice. Specialisation: She has developed a strong niche in reporting on the Indian student diaspora, particularly the challenges faced by Indian students and H-1B holders in the United States. Her work examines how geopolitical shifts, immigration policy changes, and campus politics impact global education mobility. She has also reported widely on: Mental health crises and student suicides at IITs Policy responses to campus mental health Academic freedom and institutional clampdowns at JNU, South Asian University (SAU), and Delhi University Curriculum and syllabus changes under the National Education Policy Her recent reporting has included deeply reported human stories on policy changes during the Trump administration and their consequences for Indian students and researchers in the US. Reporting Style Vidheesha is recognised for a human-centric approach to policy reporting, combining investigative depth with intimate storytelling. Her work often highlights the anxieties of students and faculty navigating bureaucratic uncertainty, legal precarity, and institutional pressure. She regularly works with court records, internal documents, official data, and disciplinary frameworks to expose structural challenges to academic freedom. Recent Notable Articles (Late 2024 & 2025) 1. Express Investigation Series JNU’s fault lines move from campus to court: University fights students and faculty (November 2025) An Indian Express investigation found that since 2011, JNU has appeared in over 600 cases before the Delhi High Court, filed by the administration, faculty, staff, students, and contractual workers across the tenures of three Vice-Chancellors. JNU’s legal wars with students and faculty pile up under 3 V-Cs | Rs 30-lakh fines chill campus dissent (November 2025) The report traced how steep monetary penalties — now codified in the Chief Proctor’s Office Manual — are reshaping dissent and disciplinary action on campus. 2. International Education & Immigration ‘Free for a day. Then came ICE’: Acquitted after 43 years, Indian-origin man faces deportation — to a country he has never known (October 2025) H-1B $100,000 entry fee explained: Who pays, who’s exempt, and what’s still unclear? (September 2025) Khammam to Dallas, Jhansi to Seattle — audacious journeys in pursuit of the American dream after H-1B visa fee hike (September 2025) What a proposed 15% cap on foreign admissions in the US could mean for Indian students (October 2025) Anxiety on campus after Trump says visas of pro-Palestinian protesters will be cancelled (January 2025) ‘I couldn’t believe it’: F-1 status of some Indian students restored after US reverses abrupt visa terminations (April 2025) 3. Academic Freedom & Policy Exclusive: South Asian University fires professor for ‘inciting students’ during stipend protests (September 2025) Exclusive: Ministry seeks explanation from JNU V-C for skipping Centre’s meet, views absence ‘seriously’ (July 2025) SAU rows after Noam Chomsky mentions PM Modi, Lankan scholar resigns, PhD student exits SAU A series of five stories examining shrinking academic freedom at South Asian University after global scholar Noam Chomsky referenced Prime Minister Narendra Modi during an academic interaction, triggering administrative unease and renewed debate over political speech, surveillance, and institutional autonomy on Indian campuses. 4. Mental Health on Campuses In post-pandemic years, counselling rooms at IITs are busier than ever; IIT-wise data shows why (August 2025) Campus suicides: IIT-Delhi panel flags toxic competition, caste bias, burnout (April 2025) 5. Delhi Schools These Delhi government school grads are now success stories. 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