The India AI Impact Summit 2026: Delhi Takes Center Stage in Shaping Humanity's AI Future

This week, in this space, it should be about AI Impact Summit in New Delhi, India. For right or wrong, for good or bad, I need to talk about this subject for greater good. First, the summit was held in New Delhi, the capital of India and it pulled off greatly, hosting the event of the scale, imagined to be held in more advanced countries. The technology is brand new, the event is humongous and it is held in Global south, a developing nation. This erases most of the barriers to catapult India from a developing nation to developed. Out of many, this event highlights the rapid strides India has made in leading the world in democratizing and diffusing new technology useful for humanity. Second, the power of AI born in US and being harnessed by developing players like India is already transforming the physical world around us. Just look at the cities AI has transformed. The event gave a new lease of life and reinvigorated New Delhi in discharging its role as the capital of India. It simply reinvented New Delhi which is the power of a novel technology like AI. I need to speak from a personal perspective on shaping up the physical world around us. I went to four AI conferences in four US cities, which I would have never visited otherwise. The summits in economic powerhouse places like California and New York have renewed most wanted coasts of US. The two other summits in prominent cities - Las Vegas and Chicago have definitely recharged and uplifted these decorated places. These are just from my experience, and I played a small part in it by participation and propagation. There are many other summits on this novel technology in many other cities and this modern wave uplifts societies, communities, organizations, cities, states and nations. That the wave of this novel technology reached India in very little time with a potential to transform the nation, beginning with the epicenter, and when harnessed at surprising speeds, puts the 140 crore Indians and many others at the benefiting end of this churning, is the true harmony in action – rich, advanced nations pulling the global south to benefit the poor for a more equitable world. We can be assured, AI is more of an equalizer, coming in this day and age and from the notion of these free tools. 

Now some personal victories – I attended these summits in US in 4 different cities and the same model was extended to India. Might be some driving or might be some coincidence. Extending from my last blog post, with hardly few thousand in my bank account, how am I attending these summits in major US cities on cutting edge technology, for the benefit of both parties, is the greatness of US in lifting up a poor common man like me. For example I spent 2 thousand dollars attending the first summit in March 2024 in San Jose, California when I had 4 thousand in my account. This year I cannot event afford even if I spend my entire savings for the same upcoming summit next month. Those are the international, unstoppable heights I had risen to play my part, spending personal money for world good. I had gone to great lengths, attending these summits which kills me at times, doing bad, leave alone any good. For the one I attended in San Jose, I felt like I went close to my end, for the one I went to Las Vegas, I got threats that I will go bankrupt and not surprisingly it happened, around the one I went to New York, I took a huge loan and defaulted. Something safer might be the one I attended in home city, Chicago. In a way, when I sum up, it comes at a significant personal financial loss, for the walk in practical world heat is always a battle to be fought and won. Feeble, without assistance, might lose. Now, I am in a depleted state with no physical and financial strength to attend any upcoming events of this category. Success lies in overcoming severe struggle and making things happen for the good of world. Nevertheless, this is all I can put in work away from work in the US over the past four years – attending AI summits. The greatness of US once again lies in giving a pass to someone like me to play on world stage. For example, even if I am in India, I might have never attended a summit in New Delhi, for I fear cities like Delhi and Mumbai a lot back when I am in India and also due to competition. Here people are encouraging me to play with New York or California, for you are fearless at the unknown. So, that is all is taking shape – a feeble, poor fellow even by third world standards is given a freeway to act on the very top and permeate the trend in the rest of the world. I came a long way to the top and may this wonderful, unique, unstoppable run continue far into the future. 

Coming back to the AI Impact Summit in Delhi, treat me as a virtual or remote attendee for this report, even though I couldn’t engage much virtually. From all I can see in media, the summit is a blockbuster hit for it checked all the boxes, right from the title as AI Impact Summit, for there is definitely impact on the ground and in the air, through AI. As I laid before, it is already transforming the physical world around us in meaningful ways. At the high time of this trend, the summit title is perfectly apt for conveying the fact on the ground. The summit, organized by Government of India, at a very large scale is held in India which is very apt for all its software prowess in the past and present which made it a hit again. The summit on emerging technology, happened at the right time in emerging India will definitely progress the technology that is AI for its own sake and for the sake of the world. See the work done around it by Indians like me. The summit, like 1893 Columbian exposition is a watershed moment for Delhi and India in declaring the future potential rise of India and of humanity for the next century. It perfectly encapsulated the role of India and its potential of future from the present trajectory. The summit brought to the fore the capital city of Delhi at a great time, giving wings to the aspirations of crores of Indians. Lets move on to the scale which is a big hit considering the action on the ground - the AI Impact Summit 2026 brought together representatives from 100+ countries, 20+ heads of state, 45+ ministerial delegations, 300+ exhibitors, over 500,000 visitors, and more than $200 billion in AI investment commitments, making it one of the largest AI gatherings ever hosted in the Global South. It is so big because India combines geopolitical influence, the world’s largest open digital public infrastructure, massive AI talent and market scale, and the presence of global AI leaders and Big Tech CEOs — creating an unprecedented convergence of governments, industry, startups, and civil society around actionable AI impact. 

The rest of the post delves on the happenings and the outcomes emerged from the congregation. In the crisp February air of New Delhi, history was being written. The India AI Impact Summit 2026, held from February 16-21 at the magnificent Bharat Mandapam, wasn't just another technology conference—it was a watershed moment that signaled a fundamental shift in how the world thinks about artificial intelligence. For the first time, the Global South took the lead in shaping the conversation around humanity's most transformative technology, and the results exceeded even the most optimistic expectations. 

Genesis of a Global Movement 

The AI Impact Summit represents the fourth chapter in a series that began with the Bletchley Park AI Safety Summit in the UK in 2023, followed by gatherings in Seoul and Paris. But India's edition marked a deliberate pivot—reflected even in the evolving names of these summits. From "safety" to "action" to "impact," the progression tells a story of maturation: the world moving from fear and theorizing to practical implementation and measurable outcomes. 

The decision to host this summit in India was far from arbitrary. As Prime Minister Narendra Modi eloquently stated at the inauguration, India represents one-sixth of humanity, houses the world's largest youth population, commands the biggest tech talent pool globally, and operates a thriving tech-enabled ecosystem. More profoundly, India embodies diversity, democracy, and demographic dynamism—the perfect laboratory for AI that must serve all of humanity, not just the privileged few. 

The summit was organized under India's ambitious IndiaAI Mission by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, with S. Krishnan, Secretary of MeitY, leading the coordination. The vision was clear from the start: demonstrate that AI's promise is best realized when its benefits are shared by humanity in all its diversity, and prove that solutions developed in India's complex, multilingual, multi-cultural context can serve people everywhere. 

An Unprecedented Gathering of Minds 

The numbers tell a story of extraordinary global engagement. The summit drew delegations from over 100 countries, including more than 20 heads of state and over 60 ministers. UN Secretary-General António Guterres and French President Emmanuel Macron joined Prime Minister Modi at the opening ceremony, lending their voices to a conversation that transcended national boundaries. 

But what truly set this summit apart was the sheer star power from the technology world. The who's who of artificial intelligence descended upon Delhi: Sam Altman of OpenAI, Dario Amodei of Anthropic, Sundar Pichai of Google, Demis Hassabis of Google DeepMind, Jensen Huang of NVIDIA, and Mukesh Ambani of Reliance Industries. These weren't ceremonial appearances—these leaders came to announce transformative partnerships and investments that will reshape India's technological landscape for decades. 

The India AI Impact Expo featured over 300 exhibitors from 30 countries across more than 10 thematic pavilions, showcasing AI applications in healthcare, agriculture, education, and sustainable industry. The energy was palpable—young engineers crowding around humanoid robots, entrepreneurs networking across pavilions, and students from across India experiencing cutting-edge technology firsthand. 

Putting Delhi—and the Global South—on the Map 

The symbolic significance of hosting this summit in Delhi cannot be overstated. For decades, conversations about technology's future have been dominated by Silicon Valley and, increasingly, Beijing. The India AI Impact Summit 2026 declared unequivocally that the future of AI will be written not just in California and China, but in Bangalore, Mumbai, and across the developing world. 

New Delhi's selection as the host city carried deep meaning. As India's capital, it represents the nation's democratic traditions and multicultural fabric. Bharat Mandapam, the state-of-the-art convention center that hosted the summit, itself symbolizes modern India—blending traditional architectural elements with contemporary design, much like how the summit sought to blend AI innovation with human values. 

The summit was structured around three foundational pillars, termed "Sutras" in Sanskrit: People, Planet, and Progress. Seven thematic working groups, called "Chakras," translated these principles into actionable areas covering AI for economic growth, democratizing AI resources, inclusion, safety, human capital development, scientific advancement, and innovation. Over 100 countries engaged through these working groups, making this a truly collaborative global effort. 

Record-Breaking Investments and Partnerships 

The financial commitments announced during the summit were nothing short of staggering. India's industrial giants led the charge: Reliance Industries and Jio announced ₹10 trillion (approximately $110 billion) in investments over seven years to build AI computing infrastructure, including multi-gigawatt-scale data centers and a nationwide edge computing network. The Adani Group pledged $100 billion by 2035 to create renewable energy-powered AI data centers, which is expected to trigger an additional $150 billion across related industries, creating a $250 billion AI infrastructure ecosystem. 

International technology giants matched this enthusiasm. Microsoft announced it was on track to invest $50 billion by 2030 to expand AI access across the Global South, with India as a major beneficiary. OpenAI formalized its "OpenAI for India" program and partnered with Tata Group to deploy AI compute infrastructure starting at 100 megawatts and scaling toward one gigawatt. Tata Consultancy Services signed OpenAI as the first customer for its data center operations under the global Stargate initiative. 

AMD and OpenAI both announced partnerships with Tata Group, while Blackstone participated in a $600 million equity raise for Indian AI infrastructure firm Neysa. Larsen & Toubro revealed plans for a gigawatt-scale "AI factory" using NVIDIA's GPU infrastructure across Chennai and Mumbai. NVIDIA expanded its venture capital partnerships in India, deepening its exposure to the country's emerging tech startups. 

The summit also witnessed the signing of the Pax Silica agreement between the U.S. and India, a Trump administration initiative aimed at securing the global supply chain for silicon-based technologies. India's government earmarked $1.1 billion for its state-backed venture capital fund to invest in AI and advanced manufacturing startups, while announcing plans to add 20,000 GPUs through the IndiaAI Compute initiative. 

Combined, the investment announcements exceeded $400 billion—a figure that reflects not just financial capital but profound confidence in India's ability to be a global AI powerhouse. 

Indian Innovation Takes Center Stage 

The summit wasn't merely about attracting foreign investment—it showcased India's homegrown AI capabilities. Sarvam AI, an Indian laboratory, launched new large language models with 30-billion and 105-billion parameters using mixture-of-experts architecture, along with text-to-speech, speech-to-text, and vision models. The company also unveiled Kaze smartglasses, which Prime Minister Modi personally tested at the expo. 

BharatGen, a government-backed consortium, released Param 2, a 17-billion parameter multilingual model supporting 22 Indian languages with multimodal capabilities. This represents a breakthrough in ensuring AI serves India's linguistic diversity. Gnani.ai presented Vachana, a zero-shot text-to-speech system covering multiple regional languages, while Emergent announced it had reached $100 million in annual recurring revenue. 

These launches demonstrated that India isn't just adopting AI—it's creating AI solutions uniquely suited to its needs and scalable globally. As Prime Minister Modi declared: "Design and Develop in India. Deliver to the World. Deliver to Humanity." 

Impact on the Common Indian 

Perhaps most importantly, the summit's three global challenges—YUVAi (for young innovators aged 13-21), AI by HER (promoting gender equity and women entrepreneurs), and AI for All (focusing on scalable AI-for-good applications)—attracted over 15,000 registrations from 135 countries and around 4,700 submissions, with strong Global South participation. 

The summit also set a Guinness World Record for the most pledges received for an AI responsibility campaign in 24 hours, collecting 250,946 valid pledges in partnership with Intel India—a testament to public engagement with AI ethics. 

For ordinary Indians, these developments promise tangible benefits: AI-powered healthcare reaching remote villages, agricultural solutions helping small farmers optimize yields, multilingual AI tools breaking language barriers in education, and job creation across the AI value chain. India's digital public infrastructure—including Aadhaar biometric ID covering 1.3 billion people and the Unified Payments Interface processing billions of transactions monthly—provides a foundation for deploying AI at unprecedented scale. 

A New Chapter for Global AI Governance 

The summit produced the "Delhi Declaration," expected to have at least 70 signatories committing to principles ensuring AI's benefits are shared by humanity. While some critics argued the summit functioned partly as a trade fair, this pragmatic approach may be precisely what's needed—combining diplomatic coordination with economic opportunity to create sustainable momentum. 

India's message was clear: the future of AI shouldn't be determined solely by a handful of tech billionaires or controlled by just two superpowers. As Jakob Mökander, director of AI policy research, noted: "Long term, it's good for the world that AI is not just viewed as a race between the U.S. and China, and I think that India is right now the player that most confidently says, 'We reject this dynamic.'" 

The summit's tagline—"Welfare for all, Happiness of all" (सर्वजन हिताय, सर्वजन सुखाय)—captured an ethos often missing from Western tech conferences. It anchored the conversation in human flourishing rather than mere technological advancement, a perspective rooted in India's philosophical traditions and democratic values. 

Looking Forward 

As the dust settles on this historic gathering, India has firmly established itself as a critical player in shaping AI's future. The investments will take years to materialize, the partnerships will require sustained effort, and the vision will demand ongoing commitment. But the India AI Impact Summit 2026 achieved something perhaps more important than any single deal or declaration: it expanded the world's imagination about where AI innovation can come from and who it should serve. 

For crores of people across the Global South, Delhi's message rang clear—AI's future will be written with their voices included, their languages supported, their needs centered, and their participation welcomed. That alone makes this summit a watershed moment in technology history. The government of India palyed a great role in bringing together people, partners, organizations and countries on to a common platform, leading the world from the front. The leadership is all-uniting and world-leading example of present Government which is scaling new heights every day in giving the world a great future. The occasion has shed light on India about the great strides it is undertaking in the recent past and present. Long back, I heard Java is not a code, it is bread and butter. The summit demonstrated that at global scale, AI is no longer just about algorithms and models — it is about economic transformation, societal progress, and shared human advancement. Our ilk of tech professionals can pat our back for this imprint.