India Launches AI Impact Summit 2026 in New Delhi with Record 250,000 Delegates

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.