India inaugurated the AI Impact Summit 2026 on Sunday at the Bharat Mandapam complex in New Delhi, bringing together world leaders, technology executives and researchers for what organisers describe as the first major global artificial intelligence summit hosted in the Global South. Prime Minister Narendra Modi opened the five-day event running from February 16 to 20, which is expected to draw 250,000 visitors, more than 20 heads of state and 45 ministerial-level delegations. Among the headline attendees are OpenAI chief executive Sam Altman, Google chief executive Sundar Pichai, Microsoft president Brad Smith, Qualcomm chief executive Cristiano Amon, French President Emmanuel Macron and Brazilian President Lula da Silva.
The summit is structured around three thematic pillars: People, Planet and Progress. The People track focuses on ensuring artificial intelligence benefits all segments of society and does not deepen existing inequalities, while the Planet track addresses the environmental costs and potential climate solutions offered by AI systems. The Progress pillar examines how AI can accelerate economic development, particularly in emerging economies that have traditionally been excluded from technology governance discussions. More than 600 startups and 300 exhibitions are showcasing innovations across these themes, ranging from agriculture and healthcare applications to advanced language models built for underrepresented languages.
Modi used his inaugural address to position India as a bridge between the developed and developing worlds on AI governance, arguing that the country's combination of a vast talent pool, a thriving startup ecosystem and a digitally connected population of 1.4 billion people makes it uniquely suited to shape global AI policy. He described the summit as a testament to the power of Indian youth and called for international cooperation to ensure that artificial intelligence serves humanity rather than concentrating power among a handful of corporations or nations. The Indian government has framed the event as an opportunity to produce a shared roadmap for global AI governance and collaboration that reflects the priorities of the Global South.
The presence of major technology chief executives alongside political leaders underscores the dual nature of the AI governance challenge, which requires both regulatory frameworks from governments and responsible development commitments from the private sector. Altman and Pichai are expected to participate in high-level panels on responsible AI deployment and open-source models, while Macron and Lula are scheduled to discuss how AI governance can be made more inclusive of developing nations. However, the opening day was not without criticism, as reports emerged of overcrowding, long queues and organisational difficulties that drew complaints from some attendees and observers on social media.
The New Delhi summit follows previous landmark AI governance gatherings, including the Bletchley Park summit hosted by the United Kingdom in November 2023 and the Paris AI Summit held in early 2025, both of which were criticised for being dominated by wealthy Western nations. By hosting the event in India, organisers aim to shift the centre of gravity in AI governance toward nations where artificial intelligence stands to have its greatest transformative impact but where regulatory capacity and computing infrastructure remain limited. The summit will continue through Thursday with working groups expected to address safety standards, data sovereignty, compute access for developing nations and the ethical deployment of AI in public services.
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