Technology & Science
India Launches AI Impact Summit 2026 in New Delhi with Record 250,000 Delegates
On 16 Feb 2026, Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated a five-day AI Impact Summit at Bharat Mandapam, the first time the annual forum is held in the Global South and by far its largest edition.
Focusing Facts
- Organisers confirm 20 heads of state, 45 ministerial delegations and roughly 250,000 total participants registered for the 16-20 Feb summit.
- The concurrent AI Expo spans 70,000 m² with 300+ exhibition pavilions across 13 country/region zones.
- Delhi will host the world’s first AI Film Festival on 17 Feb at Qutub Minar, spotlighting AI-generated cinema.
Context
Tech conclaves rarely shift geopolitical weight, but moments like the 1955 Bandung Conference—where newly decolonised nations asserted a voice in Cold-War diplomacy—show how venue and agenda can recast power relations. India’s summit rides a century-long trend: industrial revolutions have moved from Euro-American cores (steam in 19th c., internet in 1990s) toward more multipolar stewardship. By framing AI around digital public infrastructure and energy-water footprints, New Delhi challenges the Bletchley-Paris-Seoul safety narrative that has so far been scripted by the North Atlantic. Whether this becomes another soft-law talk-shop (like the 2011 e-G8 that faded quickly) or the seed of alternative governance models will shape whose norms and whose languages are baked into next-generation systems—decisions that echo for decades when a general-purpose technology is involved. On a 100-year arc, giving the demographic majority seats at the rule-making table could determine whether AI deepens inequality or resembles electricity’s diffusion—ubiquitous and broadly beneficial.
Perspectives
Indian pro-government business & mainstream outlets
Economic Times, FortuneIndia, Telangana Today, SocialNews.XYZ — Present the AI Impact Summit as proof that India now sits at the centre of the global AI debate and is harnessing the technology for “human-centric progress,” with Prime Minister Modi personally steering an inclusive, welfare-oriented agenda. Coverage largely echoes official talking-points, celebrates scale and celebrity attendance, and plays down unresolved issues such as regulation, labour displacement or corporate concentration—reflecting incentives to showcase national success and stay aligned with government messaging.
Indian policy-research / Global-South development voices
Observer Research Foundation paper — Frame the Summit as a chance for the Global South to shape AI around its own developmental priorities—calling for digital public infrastructure, data sovereignty, plural governance models and South-South cooperation rather than a narrow ‘safety’ debate set by wealthy nations. Although it highlights inclusion, the think-tank is closely linked to Indian diplomatic goals and therefore emphasises India’s potential leadership while under-playing domestic dissent or the possibility that India could replicate, not upend, existing power imbalances.
Critical civil-society / watchdog media
News.az quoting external analysts — Questions whether yet another grand summit will yield concrete, enforceable guardrails on powerful AI firms, noting that previous gatherings produced mostly self-regulatory pledges and that real oversight remains missing. By foregrounding scepticism and limited past progress, this view may under-state the value of diplomatic consensus-building and ignore tangible capacity-building efforts that states like India pursue, reflecting a preference for stricter regulation and outsider critique.