Article 2 | Definitions

For the purposes of this Charter, the following terms shall have the meanings assigned to them unless otherwise specified:

(1)   Academic Council / ISAIL Academic Council / ISAIL AI Policy Academic Council / AI Policy Academic Council: The primary substantive body established under Schedule 2 of the ISAIL Charter for scholarly oversight, standard-setting tracks, and policy deliberations. It comprises appointed Technical Convenors, Policy Convenors, and accredited Academic Members who provide subject-matter guidance and research oversight across initiatives.

(2)   Alliance / OpenBharat.net: The overarching collaborative initiative, formerly established as the AiStandard.io Alliance (or AI Standardisation Alliance), administered under the authority of the Indian Society of Artificial Intelligence and Law (ISAIL) to advance sovereign artificial intelligence standards, ethical computational frameworks, open-source interoperability, and national digital infrastructure. 

(3) Alliance Members: Organisations, enterprises, research bodies, or institutions admitted under Chapter 3 of this Charter pursuant to Article 4(1)(b) of the ISAIL Charter, including Start-ups, Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs), research laboratories, developer networks, open-source consortia, and institutional bodies. 

(3)   AI Standards: “AI Standards” refer to technical, commercial, legal, and ethical guidelines developed and maintained by the Alliance to govern the research, development, deployment, and use of artificial intelligence technologies. These standards are designed to ensure interoperability, scalability, sustainability, and ethical governance of AI systems across various industries.

(4)   “Bharat Pacific Principles”, “Bharat Pacific AI Principles” refer strictly and exclusively to the Bharat Pacific Principles of AI Standardisation adopted and regularly updated under the Article 3 of this Charter. All other policy frameworks, regional declarations, and doctrinal instruments adopted by ISAIL.IN under related nomenclature including the Orchha Principles, Lucknow Principles, Sonbhadra Principles, and affiliated declarations are formally classified and referred to as the ISAIL AI Principles

(5) “Confidential Information” means Non-public proprietary data, algorithmic workflows, internal deliberations, draft specifications, candidate standards, strategic roadmap notes, or proprietary disclosures made during working track activities, as governed by Schedule 1, Schedule 2 (Clause 12), and Schedule 5 (Clause 6) of the ISAIL Charter.

(6)   Global Advisory Council: The international consultative body constituted under Article 2(1)(c) and Article 3 of the ISAIL Charter, responsible for cross-border benchmarking, comparative policy guidance, and external expert consultations.

(7)   Intellectual Property (IP): “Intellectual Property” includes patents (whether applied for or granted), copyrights, trade secrets, know-how, designs, algorithms, databases, software code, inventions (whether patentable or not), and any other proprietary information related to AI technologies developed or shared within the OpenBharat.net Governing Council’s framework.

(8) OpenBharat.net Governing Council (OBGC): The governing authority constituted under Article 2(1)(d) of the ISAIL Charter, exercising primary institutional jurisdiction over all India-specific technology tracks, working group constitution, convenor ratification, and open standardization deliverables.

(9) Regional Divisions: The territorial operational arms of OpenBharat.net established across India under Schedule 4 and Schedule 6 of the ISAIL Charter (comprising the Central, North and East, Western Arc, Southern Arc, and Delhi-NCR Divisions) tasked with local stakeholder engagement, research dissemination, and empirical studies.

(10)  Secretariat: The central administrative executive of the Indian Society of Artificial Intelligence and Law (ISAIL) constituted under Article 2(1)(b) of the ISAIL Charter, retaining ultimate administrative, budgetary, dispute, and publication clearance prerogative. 

(11)   Stakeholders: Public and private sector actors participating in or impacted by OpenBharat.net standards, including ISAIL Alliance Members, ISAIL Academic Members, government ministries, public sector undertakings, industry associations, civil society, academic institutions, and end-users.

(12)  Standardisation Process: The “Standardisation Process” refers to the structured approach adopted by the Alliance for developing AI Standards. It includes stakeholder identification (Article 6), use case classification (Article 7), risk analysis (Article 7), committee collaboration (Article 8), and documentation procedures (Articles 9-11).

(13)  Technical and Policy Convenors: Academic Members appointed by the Secretariat and formally ratified by the OBGC pursuant to Schedule 2 of the ISAIL Charter to lead computational engineering, empirical testbeds, and regulatory compliance portfolios. 

(14) Use Case: A “Use Case” refers to a specific instance or application of artificial intelligence technology, system, product, infrastructure, component or service that is classified and tracked by OpenBharat.net  for standardisation purposes. Use cases may be submitted by Members or stakeholders for evaluation based on technical viability, commercial potential, regulatory compliance, and ethical considerations.

(15)  Working Groups: Specialized ad-hoc bodies constituted directly by the OBGC pursuant to Schedule 2 of the ISAIL Charter, superseding legacy standing committees to execute discrete open-standard specifications, sector playbooks, and empirical evaluations.