Rahul Patni of EY on the RegulatingAI Podcast with Sanjay Puri: Why Every Company Needs an AI Governance Framework

On the RegulatingAI Podcast, Rahul Patni explains why responsible AI frameworks, governance, and AI agents are reshaping tax and enterprise operations.

NEW DELHI, INDIA, February 20, 2026 /EINPresswire.com/ -- On the RegulatingAI Podcast with Sanjay Puri, Rahul Patni, Partner and Digital Tax Leader at EY India, delivers a clear and urgent message:

“There has to be a framework that is monitoring the responsible AI framework within an organization.”

At the India AI Impact Summit, Rahul Patni talks about why AI is no longer a side project for tax, governance, or finance departments—it's becoming more ingrained in enterprise operations. But without structure, oversight, and accountability, organizations could lose control.
Here are the highlights from his conversation with Sanjay Puri.

Tax: From Compliance Function to Strategic Intelligence Hub
Historically, tax has been considered a back-office process, but it actually has one of the most valuable data sets within any organization. “AI is now unlocking this value at scale,” says Rahul Patni.
For CFOs, audit committees, and chief risk officers, AI brings about greater governance and assurance. Rather than testing samples, AI systems can examine the entire data set, including millions of ledger lines.
“When audit committees realize that every single line item in a 10-lakh general ledger has been examined, it’s a game-changer,” he says.
It’s not just about efficiency. It’s about confidence. Boards get better data, and regulators can get greater assurance.

Should Boards Create an AI Committee?
When Sanjay Puri challenges Rahul Patni on governance, the response is swift: yes.
AI touchpoints will soon be ubiquitous in most business processes. This is a fact that requires structured management. A responsible AI governance structure must have board-level responsibility, roles, and boundaries.
What happens if not? Errors compound rapidly.
Rahul Patni describes actual cases of lawyers submitting hallucinated content to courts simply because the output hadn’t been checked.

Responsible AI in Practice
But what does responsible AI actually entail?
Rahul Patni provides a blueprint:
* Policies on approved models
* Employee awareness
* IT security controls
* Disclosure practices
* Confidentiality safeguards
At EY India, proprietary solutions are developed in such a way that client data never leaks into public large language models. It all happens in a controlled environment.
In the tax and law sectors, confidentiality is paramount.

AI Agents: Reimagining Tax Delivery
One of the most interesting aspects of this episode is the discussion of AI agents.
Rahul Patni identifies three pillars of tax:
* Planning
* Compliance
* Defense
In each of these areas, AI agents are revolutionizing the way things are done.
Research agents are able to search through enormous document repositories in minutes. Compliance agents help with complicated filings. Defense agents write responses to notices from regulatory bodies.
However, there is a very important proviso here: human judgment is still required.
“In a subject like tax and law, there is nuance. Human-in-the-loop is critical,” he says.
AI can produce the first cut. Humans have to hone, interpret, and use judgment.

AI: Competition or Companion?
Young professionals worry that AI will make their jobs obsolete. Rahul Patni has a different take on the subject.
AI, according to him, is a “companion—not a competitor.”
Young chartered accountants will not have to wait years to do grunt work when they can begin with an AI assistant on their first day. That’s not a replacement. That’s acceleration.
However, there is a warning to be heeded: “Don’t be a ‘postman’—just forwarding AI outputs without adding value.”

Start Now—Don't Wait
When asked whether companies should go back and retrofit AI into their existing processes or think about them in a completely different way, Rahul Patni has a clear answer: this is a time to think about processes in a different way.
The implementation of AI is no longer a years-long process. It can happen in weeks or months.
The final words of Rahul Patni on the RegulatingAI Podcast with Sanjay Puri sum up the opportunity:

AI is here. It’s not going away. And its potential is vast. “You are only limited by your imagination.”

The question is no longer whether to use AI. It’s whether you’ll use it responsibly—and start now.

Upasana Das
Knowledge Networks
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