Over the past week, Bharat Mandapam in New Delhi has emerged as a central hub for the global tech community, hosting the India AI Impact Summit 2026, which attracted over 250,000 participants from more than 60 countries.
Addressing world leaders, Prime Minister Narendra Modi described artificial intelligence as a transformative force that is rapidly expanding human capabilities. He called the summit one of the most historic of its kind and a moment of pride for the Global South.
The inaugural session featured French President Emmanuel Macron and UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, alongside top industry leaders. During the summit, Modi held bilateral talks with leaders from the Netherlands, UAE, Switzerland, and Greece, and met with over 50 global tech CEOs, including Sundar Pichai, Sam Altman, Alexandr Wang, and Dario Amodei.
Several UK delegates, including former Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, Deputy PM David Lammy, and AI Minister Kanishka Narayan, attended the summit. In an interview with India Today, Narayan highlighted the growing India-UK technological partnership, stressing that both nations aim to shape AI around human-centric values. He noted that the combined influence of India and the UK in guiding ethical AI is “extremely powerful,” and emphasised strategic interdependence among democracies over isolated sovereignty. Narayan also cited their joint action against explicit AI-generated content on platforms like Grok as a regulatory success and pointed to the India-UK Free Trade Agreement’s innovation chapter, enabling joint research centres and R&D collaboration.
While the summit drew significant global attention, it was not without challenges. A university faced scrutiny after a faculty member claimed a robot dog on display was developed in-house, when it was in fact manufactured by Chinese firm Unitree. The event also faced logistical issues, with heavy traffic restrictions around Bharat Mandapam forcing several attendees to walk long distances due to VIP movements, a situation for which Union IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw later apologised.
The summit was further impacted by high-profile cancellations: Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates withdrew from his keynote address shortly before the event, following the earlier absence of Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang. A viral moment also saw OpenAI’s Sam Altman and Anthropic’s Dario Amodei hesitate during a staged photo with the Prime Minister, which Altman later explained was due to confusion over protocol. Political tensions surfaced as well, when Congress allies staged a shirtless protest, prompting the BJP to demand an apology from Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, raising concerns about India’s image on the global stage.
Amid the turbulence, the summit also delivered significant achievements. Companies pledged investments exceeding $250 billion, and the 2026 New Delhi Declaration on AI Impact, signed by 89 countries, including the US and China, establishes a non-binding framework for equitable, safe, and trustworthy AI development.
In his column, “Shaping a Human-Centric Future for AI – AI Impact Summit 2026,” Prime Minister Modi highlighted India’s scale and energy, reflected in the summit. Delegates from over 100 nations witnessed cutting-edge AI innovations, while thousands of young people explored emerging possibilities. Modi described it as the world’s largest and most democratised AI summit, marking a pivotal moment in India’s AI innovation and adoption journey. (More information page 3)
“New Delhi Summit puts India on AI map”
Despite controversy and criticism from Western media, India successfully hosted the Global AI Summit 2026, proving that even in highly populous countries, organising a large-scale international event can be complex and fraught with logistical challenges, yet still achieve significant global attention and participation.
While India boasts a large tech talent pool and global IT giants like Infosys and Tata Consultancy Services, it has yet to become a leader in developing large language models or commercial AI products. The summit underscored India’s goal of ensuring AI decision-making is not dominated by the US and China, reflecting the global south’s push for faster, more equitable adoption. However, India’s call for a global AI governance framework met resistance, with White House CTO Michael Kratsios dismissing centralised regulation, though voluntary commitments were secured from AI companies to share usage data and insights on multilingual models.
The summit also highlighted India’s IT sector, securing $227 billion in investment pledges, mainly for data centre expansion, though experts warn the country still lacks the large-scale computing infrastructure needed to compete globally. Despite geopolitical and regulatory challenges, progress was evident: Indian start-up Sarvam AI launched a practical LLM, and TCS and Infosys announced partnerships with OpenAI and Anthropic. Sam Altman noted India is OpenAI’s fastest-growing market for its coding AI, Codex, signalling the country’s rising role in the global AI landscape.
Professor Siddartha Khastgir, Head of Safe Autonomy, WMG, University of Warwick, UK who attended the summit told us, “It was a great privilege to join the India AI Impact Summit in New Delhi for the session on Measurement of AI, organised by the IIT Kharagpur’s AI stalwart, Prof Partha P Chakrabarti. It sowed the seeds for a large-scale global cooperation on the important and urgent topic of getting consensus on metrics for AI to enable AI trustworthiness. I was very humbled by the reception of our approach at WMG, University of bounding the AI problem, taking philosophical concepts and driving engineering solutions. Discussions at the session and the wider summit provided the perfect outcome for identifying approaches to build trustworthy AI. The shift in the AI conversations at the Summit from AI Safety to AI Usage was very timely, bringing focus to democratisation of AI for the first time. Building global consensus & cooperation on democratisation of AI together has to be one of the key high-level achievements of the summit. Walking through the AI Expo at the Summit was immensely inspiring, as the interactions with various Indian organisations not only illustrated the scale of India’s ambition but also India’s high expertise level. Huge kudos to Hon’ble Prime Minister Narendra Modi Ji and the entire India AI mission for putting India at the centre stage of the global AI landscape and leading the global narrative.”
Another attendee, Co-Founder of Etos Services Ltd-Tushar Dasghose described the summit as “overall very positive,” noting, “I think on balance, the positives far outweighed the negatives reported in the press.” He highlighted that this was “the biggest AI event after the UK summit hosted by Rishi Sunak, and the first major Global South summit,” bringing together policymakers, lawyers, innovators, and world leaders on a single platform.
He added, “It allowed innovators to showcase practical AI solutions, from productivity tools to waste management systems, and emphasised using AI at the ground level.” Key discussions included data privacy, cybersecurity, and affordability, with Tushar noting the importance of FinOps, financial operations for AI, to make it scalable and accessible for everyone.
Commenting on leadership engagement, he said, “Elected leaders were listening to innovators, legal experts, and policy advisors, gathering feedback from the ground to shape future AI strategies.” He praised the summit for fostering strategic coordination across democracies and preparing participants for emerging technologies like quantum computing.
On international collaboration, he observed, “While countries must protect their sovereign data, the summit showed how cooperation is key to making AI effective globally.” Concluding on the event’s impact, Tushar said, “This summit was a milestone in aligning strategies, sharing knowledge, and building a foundation for global AI cooperation. Everyone left ready to implement what they learned in their own domains.”
