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Join us on 15th January (13:00 - 15:30 UTC) for an official pre-event of the India AI Impact Summit where we will launch the PAIRS 2026 programme, and explore key messages to share into the India AI Impact Summit Dialogue.
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10 hours of interactive presentations, panels, discussions and poster sessions, exploring the state of the art in participatory development and governance of AI, and raising critical questions about the role of participation in driving an inclusive AI future.
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Taking place on the fringes of the India AI Impact Summit in New Delhi, a day of presentations, dialogue and networking bringing together researchers and practitioners exploring participatory approaches to AI.
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Join us online or in-person in New Delhi for the 2nd edition of the International Participatory AI Research and Practice Symposium (PAIRS): a space to present research and case studies on the state of the art in participatory development and governance of AI and to build stronger connections across the field. Presentations were selected from an Open Call for Abstracts, and presentations, papers and recordings will be shared after the event.
This is the second edition of PAIRS, after PAIRS 2025 in Paris, alongside the French AI Action Summit. Abstracts, presentations and recordings from that event can be found here.
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Keep in touch
PAIRS Preview: Participatory AI Research & Practice Symposium - Inclusive AI Governance
I have an accepted presentation. Is there any guidance on format for presentations and papers?
Updated guidance will be shared on 20th Jan.
Guidance for Presenters - PAIRS 2026
What is the India AI Impact Summit?
The India AI Impact Summit (19th - 20th February, 2026, New Delhi) is the next in a summit series following the AI Action Summit in Paris (Feb 2025), AI Seoul Summit (May 2024) and Bletchley Park AI Safety Summit (November 2023).
Hosted by the Government of India, and the first of the series to be hosted in the majority world, the main Summit will invite high-level delegates to discussions around three cross-cutting themes: People, Planet, Progress, and seven issue areas: Human Capital; Inclusion; Safe and Trusted AI; Resilience; Science; Democratizing AI Resources and Social good.As well as the main Summit, many fringe events are likely to take place in the run up to, and around, the Summit.
What is PAIRS?
The Participatory AI Research and Practice Symposium (PAIRS) is an unofficial fringe event, seeking to provide space for research and practitioner communities to come together and share learning on the participatory involvement of affected communities in shaping the future of Artificial Intelligence.
PAIRS 2026 will take place concurrent with the India AI Impact Summit. Like the first edition, which was an independent side-event of the Paris AI Action Summit in February 2025, and PAIRSx Africa, held online concurrent to the Global AI Summit on Africa in Kigali we are co-locating with a policy summit to support connections between research, policy and practice.
Who attends PAIRS?
At our first edition in Paris we had over 250 participants in person, and many more online, representing academia, students, industry, government, civil society and social enterprise.
Can I present work at PAIRS?
The open call for abstracts has now closed. We will confirm with accepted presenters whether you want to present in-person in New Delhi or via the online zoom sessions of the symposium.
Can you offer travel support / funding?
We have secured limited travel funding and have advised selected presenters of how to apply for this.
Can I sponsor PAIRS?
We welcome sponsorship to support PAIRS. Please get in touch with [email protected] to explore.
PAIRS 2026 has been organised by a volunteer programme committee. Anchor funding support from AI Collaborative.
Co-chairs:
Committee members: