The DY Patil University School of Law, Navi Mumbai, India and the ALSA Law and Technology Chapter are pleased to announce a conference in 2026 on the theme of ‘Technology Governance or Technology Government.

It is the year 2026, and screen time is the biggest employer of certain humans hours. It is also said that those not affected by screen time are those often unseen and excluded from the purview of law. Technology has really become all pervasive: from mobile phones that double up as social platforms, professional tools, community spaces, state surveillance, and welfare tools, to physical AI in drones and robotics that operate vehicles, feed crops, nourish soil, assist in healthcare, fuel climate action, use arms and ammunition. The lenses surrounding technology use are both  positive and critical. Often, with developed, global north, privileged groups, using technology as a means of further accumulation of power and wealth while criticising its ill effects on society and environment. On the other hand, developing, global south, seeing technology from an aspirational viewpoint. In a sense, technology represents an accentuation of existing inequities, rather than remedying them.

The 2026 Law and Technology Conference invites interest from global participants to continue to take the discussion on all aspects surrounding technology and law forward. Previous Law and Technology Conferences (2021, 2023, and 2025) have brought law and technology scholars from across the globe together to clarify complex concepts. These events provide a vibrant space for people to discuss and argue what the future of technology holds and how law will (or should) affect it. Recognising that technology has expeditiously disrupted many different traditionally held beliefs, the 2026 Conference will reflect that disruptive characteristic by engaging in critical and novel ideas surrounding the interaction of law and technology. We, thereby, invite those who would like a platform to innovate, to come join us at the 2026 Law and Technology Conference.

Suggested themes:

· Constitutional law and limits on state-corporate use of technology

· Environmental law and data centres sovereignty

· Intellectual property law and egalitarian innovation

· Criminal justice law and access to justice, including feminist theories

· Transport law and liability issues, including human-autonomy interoperability and interaction

· Procedural law and technological disruptions

· Law of Technology versus Technology of law 

· Crossroads of LLMs and intellectual property rights

· Training AI: Just a technical intervention or a contractual liability? 

· Data privacy: A law in isolation or new backbone to digital laws?

· Device automation: Developer vs Deployer obligations 

· For more suggestions, see the previous conferences: Call for abstracts, Call For Papers

All submissions must be sent to dypsol.alsa2026@dypatil.edu, primarily handled by Mayank Suri (Mayank Suri – Faculty CMS). Acceptance and assistance notifications will be processed on a rolling basis.

Symposium Call for Papers

“Addressing the IT to AI journey: is there an effective regulator?”

‘Artificial Intelligence (AI) stands at the threshold of fundamentally reshaping human civilization,…while profoundly challenging the very foundations of society…’. Differing narratives on AI, are being discussed extensively, rapidly, and regularly. Harms or risks from AI are also strikingly manifest in the discussions surrounding it: ‘There is potential for serious, even catastrophic, harm, either deliberate or unintentional,…’. The lack of capabilities of developing nations is recognised while ecocentrism is ignored. At the same time, adherence to international law and cohesive political unity is itself being challenged, risking the (voluntary) participative nature at the international regulatory level. Sector specific calls for regulation of technologies that rely on AI are also common.

While IT, or Information Technology, was viewed as a controllable machine (the term machine here being inclusive of software) in the hands of humans, AI is being viewed as an autonomous one. Largely, the narratives around AI from a critical viewpoint are dystopian for both humans and the environment. For legal scholars, this has resulted in an enthusiastic debate on how to find and formulate fault in a human entity, whether to give legal personhood to an AI system, and how to find answers in light of its opacity. Even dealing with the possibility that an AI Regulator is preferred over a Human Regulator, and how, in what form and substance.

This kind of friction and evolution while offering voluminous fodder for discussion and discourse, possibly, presents a challenge for governance and adjudication in the traditional meanings of the term. Therefore, we hope to engage with the idea of the AI regulator in this symposium. The questions of such a regulator’s capabilities, qualifications, affiliations, inherent vices in domestic and international legal orders, and everything relatable to its identity in law is up for question. In addition to the conference themes, we invite submissions on this topic, and implore submitters to detangle complex frictional concepts to suggest the form and substance of an AI regulator.

Select full papers will be published in a special edition of the journal Law, Technology and Humans (About the Journal | Law, Technology and Humans). Law, Technology and Humans is an international, open access, peer-reviewed journal publishing original, innovative research concerned with the human and humanity of law and technology. Committed to the wide and unrestricted dissemination of knowledge Law, Technology and Humans encourages scholarship that reflects on how technology is changing law, regulation and normative conduct and also how law, regulation and normative conduct effects local and global challenges and opportunities from technological change. Check out their recent symposium publications on Narratives (View of Narratives, Frontier Technologies, and the Law (Part II): Towards a Feminist Turn in Law and Technology) and Data (View of Introduction: Law as Data, Data as Law).

These submitters will receive assistance from the editorial committee between the Full Paper submission and Conference dates. Submissions should follow the guidelines and examples from the journal. See their style guide and summary here: Submissions | Law, Technology and Humans). Submitters are encouraged to collaborate with co-authors, including inter-disciplinary authors.

Submissions will be reviewed by an editorial committee consisting of members from the ‘Law and Technology’ Chapter of Asian Law School Association (Chapters – ALSA), DY Patil University (School of Law – DY Patil), and other interested scholars. 

All submissions must be sent to dypsol.alsa2026@dypatil.edu, primarily handled by Mayank Suri (Mayank Suri – Faculty CMS). Acceptance and assistance notifications will be processed on a rolling basis.