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INDIA today opens the doors to the AI Impact Summit, a five-day global forum aimed at mapping a shared roadmap for artificial intelligence governance and international collaboration, as the nation asserts itself as a rising hub for technology innovation.
The summit, inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday afternoon, brings together an estimated 250,000 participants, including 20 national leaders, 45 ministerial delegations, and tech executives such as OpenAI’s Sam Altman and Google CEO Sundar Pichai.
AFP cited on Monday that the conference tackles a sweeping agenda encompassing AI-driven job disruption, environmental consequences, misinformation, and child safety.
While the boom in generative AI has fuelled record profits and soaring stock prices, growing concern remains over its societal and ethical impact.
“Child safety and digital harms are also moving up the agenda, particularly as generative AI lowers the barrier to harmful content,” said Kelly Forbes, director of the AI Asia Pacific Institute. Forbes cited recent controversies, including Elon Musk’s Grok AI tool, which allowed users to generate sexualised images of real people, including children, with minimal technical skill.
The summit marks the fourth annual global gathering on AI, following previous meetings in Paris, Seoul, and Britain’s Bletchley Park, and is considered the largest edition yet.
Organisers say the event will define India’s leadership in the “AI decade ahead” and strengthen global partnerships, with Modi expected to engage with world leaders including France’s Emmanuel Macron and Brazil’s Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.
Yet scepticism persists over the summit’s ability to deliver substantive regulatory frameworks. Amba Kak, co-executive director of the AI Now Institute and a former AI advisor to the US Federal Trade Commission, cautioned that “industry commitments made at previous events have largely been narrow ‘self-regulatory’ frameworks that position AI companies to continue to grade their own homework.”
Despite India’s ambitious growth, experts note that the country still faces significant challenges in competing with the United States and China, although last year it overtook South Korea and Japan in an annual global AI competitiveness ranking conducted by Stanford University researchers.
Neither Donald Trump nor Xi Jinping will attend, but both countries are sending senior tech policy officials.
“The summit will shape a shared vision for AI that truly serves the many, not just the few,” India’s IT Ministry said, highlighting its aim to align innovation with inclusivity. Seth Hays, author of the Asia AI Policy Monitor newsletter, said discussions will likely focus on “ensuring that governments put up some guardrails, but don’t throttle AI development.”
He noted that while announcements on increased state investment in AI are expected, meaningful progress will depend on India forging international partnerships.
The Delhi summit is structured around three broad themes, or “sutras”—people, progress, and planet—yet AI safety remains a key priority, particularly in tackling deepfakes, misinformation, and other digital harms.
Organisers and observers alike emphasise the need for balanced approaches that encourage innovation while safeguarding societal interests.
As the world watches India’s first hosting of such a major AI gathering, the event underscores both the opportunities and perils of rapidly advancing technology, spotlighting the tension between fostering innovation and enforcing ethical standards in a digital age. - February 16, 2026