Amrita Sengupta & Abhijit Ekbote: Joint Seminar with CASI Fall Visiting Scholars

"Rethinking Approaches to Data Use for AI in Healthcare"
Amrita Sengupta

The rapid integration of artificial intelligence in healthcare settings raises questions about the adequacy of existing data protection frameworks, particularly the reliance on informed consent as the primary mechanism for legitimatizing the collection and use of health data for AI model training. This seminar examines whether informed consent, as operationalized under India's Digital Personal Data Protection Act (DPDPA) 2023, can serve as a satisfactory legal and ethical basis for using health data in AI development. Drawing on the historical evolution of consent from medical research contexts to contemporary digital data protection regimes, Amrita Sengupta demonstrates that consent-based frameworks face structural limitations when applied to AI systems. The analysis reveals a trifecta of consent challenges: patients must consent to medical procedures, to digital health record creation, and implicitly to future AI model training, often without comprehending the scope, purpose, or risks of data reuse. This seminar is based on a paper that advances three broad analyses: the limitations of informed consent in data protection and operationalization challenges in healthcare, the dilution of patient consent and autonomy in AI model training, and the role of anonymization for use of data for AI. Recognizing these limitations, she proposes alternative governance frameworks that complement individual consent.

"Changing Geomorphology of Coastal Cities of India"
Abhijit Ekbote

More info coming soon!

Amrita Sengupta is an independent tech and society researcher, largely focused on AI related research, and a CASI Fall 2026 Visiting Scholar. She advises and works with organizations in the areas of AI governance and policy. Previously, Amrita was a CyberBRICS research fellow, looking at questions of AI governance and sovereignty, and the interactions of AI and DPI, at the Centre for Technology and Society-FGV, Rio de Janeiro. Prior to that, Amrita was the Research and Programme Lead at the Centre for Internet and Society, India, leading programs and research on tech and society. A trained sociologist, her research interests and work lie in the areas of artificial intelligence, and the intersections of technology and society. She holds an undergraduate degree in sociology from Miranda House, Delhi University, and a postgraduate degree in internet studies from the Oxford Internet Institute. In the past, Amrita has worked in the private sector in managing and implementing large-scale people practices, diversity and inclusion in the workplace, as well as in conducting and leading long-form research on the impacts of tech on businesses and society, with both quantitative and qualitative methodologies.

Abhijit Ekbote, Adjunct Associate Professor at the School of Environment and Architecture, is an alumnus of CEPT University (1999) and a CASI Fall 2026 Visiting Scholar. He is an urban designer and a geospatial analyst specializing in inclusive development, risk assessment, and environmental conservation. His early practice in Mumbai focused on slum redevelopment and affordable housing through both the private and cooperative models. After pioneering specialized GIS coursework under the Erasmus+ BINUCOM program, he led several projects for the Aga Khan Agency for Habitat in India, Kenya, and Syria. A former Secretary of MMRDA’s environment and heritage societies, Abhijit has driven high-impact projects funded by the World Bank, UNDP, NIUA, GIZ, WIPRO Foundation, Gates Foundation, and WRI India. He has developed and maintains a web portal featuring interactive maps that seeks to raise public awareness of various master plans proposed by the state.