Karnataka Chief Minister D K Shivakumar on Thursday held talks with a delegation from AI firm Anthropic on forging a long-term partnership to accelerate AI adoption across governance, higher education, healthcare, research, and the state's startup ecosystem. Shivakumar, along with Minister for Electronics, IT/BT and Home Priyank Kharge, met the delegation as part of efforts to engage global AI leaders in building Karnataka's AI ecosystem. Discussions centred on deploying applied AI solutions for government and enterprise use cases, with emphasis on responsible adoption while ensuring data privacy and data sovereignty. The CM outlined a vision anchored by a proposed AI University, large-scale skilling initiatives, and support for deep-tech innovation. Both sides discussed introducing AI-focused certification programmes, such as Claude certification, under the state's NIPUNA skill development initiative. Talks also covered AI use in healthcare, life sciences, and scientific research in collaboration with the Indian Institute of Science. The Anthropic delegation expressed interest in supporting AI-driven research and skilling programmes. On enterprise AI adoption, emphasis was placed on data residency and ensuring sovereign government data is stored on servers within the state. The state government reiterated its "government first" policy and proposed securely opening government datasets to facilitate AI-powered public solutions.