As artificial intelligence (AI) stands at the threshold of fundamentally reshaping human civilization, India is hosting a summit of global tech titans focused on how AI will shape economies, governance and society.
The five-day Artificial Intelligence Impact Summit 2026 gets underway Monday evening with Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurating the India AI Impact Expo 2026 at Bharat Mandapam, the summit venue in New Delhi.
The summit “is proof that our nation is making rapid progress in the fields of science and technology and is contributing significantly to global development,” said Modi in a post on X. “This also reflects the potential and capability of our country’s youth.”
In another post, Modi declared the theme of the Summit as ‘Sarvajana Hitaya, Sarvajana Sukhaya’ or welfare for all, happiness for all, reflecting India’s shared commitment to harnessing Artificial Intelligence for human-centric progress.
The first day of the summit will feature a leadership session on harnessing artificial intelligence for the future of learning and work. It will explore how AI is reshaping global employment and redefining future skills.
Another key session will focus on transforming India’s judicial ecosystem through artificial intelligence. Experts will discuss AI’s potential to enhance efficiency, transparency, and accessibility in the judicial system.
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Culturally grounded artificial intelligence and social norms will also be on the agenda. Discussions will highlight how AI systems deployed across diverse cultural contexts often fail not due to technical limitations, but because they overlook social norms.
The future of employability in the age of artificial intelligence is another major focus area. Experts will discuss how AI may create new job opportunities while also making certain existing roles redundant, requiring large-scale reskilling of the workforce.
A special session on Artificial Intelligence for ‘Smart and Resilient Agriculture – From Research to Solutions,’ will bring together diverse perspectives to explore how AI can support sustainable, efficient, and climate-resilient agriculture.
The AI Summit also marks the first global artificial intelligence summit of this series to take place in the Global South. It aims to advance a future where the transformative impact of AI serves humanity, drives inclusive growth, fosters social development, and promotes people-centric innovations to protect the planet.
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The summit builds on extensive groundwork, including five rounds of public consultations and global outreach sessions held in Paris, Berlin, Oslo, New York, Geneva, Bangkok, and Tokyo.
It is anchored in three guiding principles — the Sutras of People, Planet, and Progress — which frame how artificial intelligence should serve humanity, safeguard the environment, and promote inclusive growth.
The New Delhi summit was preceded by a strategic bridge-building effort in Washington, D.C. at a pre-summit gathering of policymakers, technologists, diplomats and founders.
Hosted in collaboration with the Embassy of India, the gathering centered on the theme “Co-Creating the Future: Global South–Global North Collaboration for AI Impact.” The Washington pre-summit served as a strategic bridge, reinforcing that the AI conversation can no longer remain geographically concentrated.
The New Delhi Summit charts a path towards a future where the transformative power of AI serves humanity, drives inclusive growth, fosters social development, and promotes people-centric innovations that protect our planet, according to officials.
It also seeks to amplify the voice of the Global South, ensuring that technological advancements and opportunities are shared broadly, not concentrated in a few regions.
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At the same time, AI’s rapid proliferation across society poses urgent challenges—disrupting traditional employment patterns, exacerbating biases, and accelerating energy consumption.
These developments highlight the pressing need to go beyond aspirational frameworks and deliver measurable, concrete impact that addresses both the promise and the perils of AI.
Ahead of the summit, citing its tech talent, national strategy and optimism about the technology’s potential, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said India has “all the ingredients to be a full-stack AI leader.”
“OpenAl is committed to doing its part to help build Al in India, with India, and for India,” he wrote in an article in The Times of India, outlining three priorities: scaling Al literacy, building computing and energy infrastructure, and integrating Al into real workflows.
“We will soon be announcing new ways of partnering with the Indian government to put access to Al and its benefits within reach for more people across the country” he wrote. “Al will help define India’s future, and India will help define Al’s future. And it will do so in a way only a democracy can.”