Institutional Accountability and Liability for AI

Law

The sports industry has undergone a structural transformation driven by AI technologies that now permeate athlete performance analysis, biometric monitoring, injury prediction, talent scouting, and fan engagement. In India, this transformation has accelerated in the wake of two legislative developments: the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023 (DPDPA) and the National Sports Governance Act, 2025 (NSG Act).The DPDPA introduces consent-based data processing obligations that apply when sports organisations collect athlete biometric and health data through AI-powered wearable devices and monitoring systems. The NSG Act creates a statutory governance framework for national sports bodies, mandating ethics committees, athlete representation, and grievance redressed mechanisms, but does not specifically address data protection or AI-related risks. It examines whether the consent mechanisms in standard athlete employment contracts satisfy the DPDPA's requirement of free, specific, informed, and unambiguous consent when athletes face structural power imbalances in their relationships with clubs and federations. It further investigates how legal liability for AI-related harm in sports, including algorithmic bias in athlete selection, data breaches, and automated decision-making errors, should be distributed among sports organisations, technology vendors, and governing bodies under Indian law.

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