Wilson Elser Hosts Conference on AI Governance and Privacy
News related to:Wilson Elser · 2 min read
NEW YORK, Oct. 19, 2026 /CourierPR/ -- The event, held on September 30 at Wilson Elser's New York offices, brought together experts from various fields to discuss the evolving landscape of privacy laws, security best practices, and artificial intelligence governance.
The conference, which focused on the rapidly growing patchwork of state AI laws, featured speakers from Wilson Elser, Ankura, Privado AI, and several insurance carriers. JD Cheema, Founder of Privado AI, delivered a keynote address on technology-enabled data discovery and AI governance. According to Jana Farmer, a partner and co-chair of Wilson Elser's Data Use & AI Governance Practice, privacy, security, and AI governance are no longer separate conversations. Farmer noted that agentic AI, tightening regulation, and a more active enforcement environment have brought these topics into the same room.
Farmer highlighted that there is no comprehensive federal standard governing AI use in the United States. Instead, states such as New York, California, Utah, Texas, and Colorado have passed more than 150 AI-related laws in the last year alone. She advised businesses to plan for the possibility that some AI use cases could become restricted after deployment, ensuring that their AI investments remain viable as the rules continue to develop.
The conference included several panels that covered various aspects of privacy, security, and AI governance. The panelists traced the newest privacy and AI legislation, current enforcement priorities, and litigation trends, providing practical compliance guidance for attendees.
Panelists Dominik Cvitanovic, John Schrader, Craig Linton, and Bridget Choi discussed how agentic AI is reshaping organizational operations and creating new classes of cybersecurity, contractual, and operational risks. They provided practical guidance on governing agentic AI before, during, and after an incident.
Panelists Anjali Das, Nicole Nguyen, John Schrader, and Cody Valdez (formerly a Deputy AG at the New Jersey Attorney General's Office) mapped out common pitfalls and provided a practical playbook for staying on the right side of regulatory scrutiny.
Panelists Jana Slavina Farmer, Jonathan Meer, Scott Margolis, Matthew McQueeny, and Rahmila Nadi discussed common themes across businesses navigating AI implementation and provided actionable guidance on the legal and business risks involved.
Wilson Elser is a leading defense litigation firm in the United States, ranked 94 in the Am Law 100 and 30 in the National Law Journal's NLJ 500. The firm specializes in privacy, security, and AI governance and offers comprehensive defense litigation services in privacy and cyber class actions. Ankura, LLC, a global consulting and expert services advisory firm, supports projects in more than 115 countries. Privado AI, an agentic data privacy management platform, helps privacy and compliance teams automate governance workflows and detect consent-compliance violations at scale.
The conference paired practitioner-level content with built-in opportunities for attendees to connect, including general counsel, privacy and security leaders, cybersecurity and risk professionals, the insurance and carrier community, and outside advisors who serve them. The event underscored the growing importance of AI governance in the face of evolving state laws and the increasing regulatory scrutiny of AI technologies.