ERIA Explores AI Governance and Sovereignty in Legal and Public-Sector Practice at ASEAN Law Forum 2026

Ha Noi, 19 August 2026: ERIA participated in the ASEAN Law Forum 2026, held in Ha Noi on 18-19 August under the theme 'Applying Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Law Making and Law Implementation in the Digital Era.' The forum was organised by the Ministry of Justice of Viet Nam and the ASEAN Secretariat, and co-organised by ERIA, the European Union, UNDP, and UNICEF.

As part of the forum, ERIA convened a panel discussion titled 'AI in Legal and Public-Sector Practice: Sovereignty, Security, and Regional Co-operation in ASEAN.' The session was moderated by Mr Yoshitaka Watanabe, Manager for Legal Policy at ERIA, and Mr Nguyen Huu Huyen, Director General of the Department of International Cooperation at Viet Nam's Ministry of Justice. Panellists included Dr Randeep Kaur, Digital and AI Policy Economist at ERIA; Mr Le Dang Ngoc, Business Director at Viettel Data Services and Artificial Intelligence Center; and Mr Bintang Hidayanto, Co-Founder and CEO of Gani.AI and Founding Partner at GHP Law.

The panel examined a key challenge facing ASEAN: how to govern the rapid adoption of AI in legal and public-sector settings while ensuring that its use remains secure, accountable, locally relevant, and regionally connected.

Dr Kaur opened the discussion by highlighting use cases for AI across legal and judicial systems worldwide, including document analysis, case routing, transcription, translation, drafting, and redaction. She noted that AI readiness remains uneven across ASEAN, with challenges including skills gaps, limited access to high-quality data, and the absence of clear governance frameworks.

On AI sovereignty, Dr Kaur presented strategic interdependence as an alternative to pursuing complete domestic control over the AI technology stack. She also stressed the importance of selecting fit-for-purpose AI models, including smaller language models (SLMs), which can help address requirements related to data residency, confidentiality, cost, and local-language capabilities. At the regional level, she highlighted opportunities for co-operation through the ASEAN Digital Economy Framework Agreement (DEFA), regional capacity-building, and the development of regional AI models such as SEA-LION, which can be further fine-tuned to local contexts.

Mr Le Dang Ngoc discussed AI sovereignty from the perspective of a technology provider. He emphasised that AI sovereignty is not an 'all-or-nothing' concept, but rather involves balancing domestic capabilities and control with international co-operation. Drawing on Viettel's experience, he highlighted the importance of developing domestic capabilities in areas such as digital infrastructure, data, and locally relevant AI models, while maintaining openness to international co-operation. He also identified public administration and Vietnamese law as important areas where locally tailored AI solutions can provide value.

Addressing practical implementation and risk management, Mr Bintang Hidayanto noted that legal and public-sector work often involves sensitive, privileged, and, in some cases, classified or state-secret information, making data protection and security critical considerations. He advised institutions to thoroughly assess AI providers, including their data-residency policies and zero-data-retention arrangements, to ensure that sensitive information is neither stored nor used to train AI models.

Mr Hidayanto also stressed that human judgement must remain the final checkpoint in AI-assisted legal work. Legal conclusions and client-facing advice should remain the responsibility of qualified professionals, while substantive legal claims should be traceable to reliable primary sources.

By bringing together perspectives from policy research, legal practice, and technology, the session connected ASEAN's broader discussions on AI governance with the practical challenges faced by governments and legal professionals adopting AI. The discussion underscored the importance of balancing innovation with security, accountability, and human oversight, while strengthening regional co-operation to support responsible and locally relevant AI adoption across ASEAN.