India Hosts First Global-South AI Impact Summit, 16-20 Feb 2026

The gathering echoes the 1955 Bandung Conference, when newly independent Asian and African nations asserted a voice in Cold-War geopolitics; now, India is asserting digital sovereignty and agenda-setting power in the AI age. It reflects two long arcs: the 40-year migration of technological heft from West to a multipolar tech ecosystem, and the century-long struggle of emerging economies to move from being technology takers to rule-setters. If India can turn talk into standards—on edge-AI, data ownership and ‘AI for humanity’—the summit could mark an inflection akin to the 1971 Stockholm UN environmental summit that birthed today's climate regime; if it fizzles, it will be another Davos-style photo-op. Over a 100-year horizon, the significance lies less in product announcements and more in whether the Global South can institutionalize equitable AI governance before the technology hardens into the unequal patterns set by earlier industrial revolutions.