New Delhi: The India AI Impact Summit 2026, held in New Delhi from February 16–21 at Bharat Mandapam, marked a defining moment in global artificial intelligence discourse. As the fourth installment in a series of major international AI summits—following Bletchley Park (2023), Seoul (2024), and Paris (2025)—this was the first hosted in the Global South, signaling a shift in the conversation from concentrated tech hubs to regions long underrepresented in AI policymaking.
The scale of the summit was staggering. Over six days, more than 20 heads of state and 60 ministers convened alongside 500 AI leaders, including CEOs from OpenAI, Google, Anthropic, Microsoft, and numerous other organizations. Delegations from over 100 countries participated, reflecting AI’s growing role as a global strategic and economic priority. The public engagement was equally remarkable: hundreds of thousands explored exhibitions showcasing AI applications in healthcare, agriculture, education, and urban infrastructure.
The summit’s central theme emphasized inclusive, democratized AI aimed at delivering tangible benefits to the Global South. Moving beyond hype and speculative promise, the discussions focused on accessibility, ethical governance, and real-world impact. Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the proceedings alongside French President Emmanuel Macron and UN Secretary-General António Guterres, signaling a commitment to collaborative engagement amid an increasingly tense geopolitical environment.
The New Delhi Declaration on AI
One of the summit’s landmark outcomes was the New Delhi Declaration on AI, endorsed by 88 countries and international organizations, including the United States, United Kingdom, China, and France. The declaration emphasized “democratic diffusion” of AI, rejecting the concentration of technological and economic power in a handful of nations or corporations. Its core principles centered on:
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Safe, trusted, and inclusive AI development
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Shared benefits for humanity
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Transparent governance and accountability
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Promotion of equitable access and capacity building
Complementing the declaration were several high-impact initiatives designed to accelerate global collaboration and practical deployment:
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Global AI Impact Commons – A shared database of real-world AI use cases, enabling countries to adapt successful models for local contexts.
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Trusted AI Commons – A repository of tools, benchmarks, and best practices to enhance system security and robustness.
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International Network of AI for Science Institutions – Linking research bodies worldwide for collaborative breakthroughs in fundamental and applied AI.
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AI for Social Empowerment Platform – Strategies and frameworks for workforce reskilling and societal integration of AI systems.
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Guiding Principles for Resilient, Efficient AI – Foundational principles for sustainability, reliability, and long-term operational safety.
These initiatives were designed to position AI as a driver of economic growth and social good, particularly in underrepresented regions where technology adoption has historically lagged.
India’s MANAV Vision: Ethical AI Governance
India leveraged the summit to introduce its MANAV Vision, a national ethical AI governance framework structured around five pillars:
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Moral and Ethical Systems – Aligning AI with societal values and norms.
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Accountable Governance – Establishing mechanisms for transparency and responsibility.
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National Sovereignty – Upholding data sovereignty and ensuring domestic control over strategic technologies.
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Accessible and Inclusive Design – Supporting multilingual capabilities and culturally relevant AI solutions.
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Valid and Legitimate Processes – Ensuring fairness and legitimacy in algorithmic decision-making.
The framework emphasized the principle “whose data, his right,” reflecting a strong commitment to data sovereignty. This approach diverged from purely market-driven models, offering a blueprint for Global South nations seeking to ensure that AI solutions are locally relevant and inclusive. The MANAV Vision also highlighted multilingual support in large language models (LLMs), ensuring AI utility beyond Western-centric datasets.
Investment and Partnership Announcements
Financial commitments announced at the summit were historic. Organizers reported $250 billion in AI infrastructure commitments and $20 billion in frontier deep-tech research and venture funding. India itself allocated $1.1 billion for a state-backed VC fund, targeting AI and advanced manufacturing startups.
High-profile partnerships underscored confidence in India’s potential. For example, Tata partnered with OpenAI to advance localized AI solutions, while domestic companies such as Neysa raised substantial funds for GPU deployment to build in-country compute capacity.
Tech leaders highlighted India’s talent pool, growing consumer market, and scalability as key drivers for investment. Sam Altman noted that over 100 million weekly ChatGPT users in India ranked second globally, while Dario Amodei projected that AI could fuel up to 25% annual GDP growth for the country if harnessed effectively.
Technological Shifts: From Generative Hype to the Agentic Era
The summit also signaled a paradigm shift in AI technology. The focus moved from chatbots and content generation toward autonomous, agentic systems capable of orchestrating complex workflows across multiple domains.
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Enterprise-scale deployment in healthcare, education, agriculture, and public services became the primary focus.
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Experts forecast a new era where AI could exceed the transformative power of the Industrial Revolution by a factor of ten.
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Demis Hassabis (DeepMind) predicted AGI emergence within five years, while Sam Altman suggested early superintelligence could arrive in a couple of years.
This transition underscored a broader ambition: moving AI from research experimentation to practical, scalable, outcome-focused systems.
Challenges and Controversies
Despite optimism, the summit acknowledged significant risks and inequities:
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Cybercrime, deepfakes, privacy erosion, and misuse on the dark web were recurring concerns.
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The potential for an “AI divide” was highlighted, with benefits likely to concentrate among powerful entities while marginalized populations could bear disproportionate risks.
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Geopolitical tensions were evident: the U.S. resisted global governance mandates, favoring innovation freedom; China was underrepresented due to scheduling conflicts; and human rights organizations criticized the declaration for lacking binding enforcement and elevating corporate over civil society voices.
Logistical and organizational challenges, including traffic congestion and minor incidents, tempered the narrative of seamless execution. Nevertheless, the summit’s symbolic significance outweighed operational hiccups.
India’s Strategic Positioning
Hosting the summit allowed India to amplify the Global South’s voice in AI governance while aligning with global security and economic initiatives:
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India joined the Pax Silica initiative to secure AI supply chains.
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An AI Opportunity Partnership with the United States was launched to foster technology transfer and joint research.
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Domestic policy priorities, such as multilingual AI and social empowerment platforms, reinforced India’s vision of inclusive AI growth.
These moves positioned India as a key intermediary between leading AI-producing nations and underrepresented regions seeking equitable access to technology.
Broader Implications and Legacy
The summit’s legacy lies in bridging divides, mobilizing capital, and establishing frameworks for inclusive AI development. It reinforced the dual nature of AI: a tool of extraordinary potential and a source of profound risk.
Key takeaways include:
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Global cooperation is essential, yet voluntary frameworks may lack enforceability.
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Investment and talent pipelines are shifting rapidly toward the Global South.
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Ethical and inclusive AI frameworks are gaining traction but require sustained implementation to avoid exacerbating inequalities.
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The Agentic Era represents a new frontier where AI systems operate autonomously across sectors, demanding new regulatory and governance structures.
As the AI Impact Summit series prepares to move to Geneva in 2027, the world will watch whether pledges and declarations translate into tangible outcomes or remain aspirational rhetoric. The 2026 summit in New Delhi made clear that AI’s impact is not just a question of technological advancement, but who controls it, who benefits, and how governance ensures equity.
The India AI Impact Summit 2026 will be remembered as a watershed moment for global AI policy, marking the first time the Global South played a central role in defining ethical, inclusive, and impactful AI strategies. Massive investments, historic partnerships, and the launch of frameworks such as the MANAV Vision underscore India’s strategic ambition.
Yet the summit also highlighted persistent challenges: enforcement gaps, uneven access, corporate dominance, and geopolitical tensions remain unresolved. The dual promise and peril of AI were laid bare: technological breakthroughs could transform economies, societies, and scientific discovery, while risks of misuse, inequity, and concentration of power loom large.
In this context, the summit’s most enduring message is clear: AI’s future depends on collective stewardship, inclusive governance, and deliberate action to ensure that the technology benefits all of humanity, not just a select few. The New Delhi gathering set the stage, but the next steps—real-world deployment, equitable access, and sustained oversight—will determine whether the vision of a just, global AI ecosystem becomes reality.
