India hosts a high-stakes AI summit, drawing 20 leaders and top tech
CEOs
[February 16, 2026] By
RAJESH ROY and KELVIN CHAN
NEW DELHI (AP) — India is hosting an artificial intelligence summit this
week, bringing together heads of state, senior officials and tech
executives to New Delhi for a five-day gathering highlighting the
growing global importance of the technology.
Organizers said the India AI Impact Summit is the first such summit
being held in the Global South to discuss the technology developed and
dominated by wealthy companies based in rich countries. It comes at a
pivotal moment as AI rapidly transforms economies, reshapes labor
markets and raises questions around regulations, security and ethics.
From generative AI tools that can produce text and images to advanced
systems used in defense, health care and climate modeling, AI has become
a central focus for governments and corporations across the world.
The summit, previously held in France, the U.K. and South Korea, has
evolved far beyond its modest beginnings as a meeting tightly focused on
the safety of cutting-edge AI systems into an all-purpose jamboree trade
fair in which safety is just one aspect.
India aspires to be a rising AI power
India — the world’s most populous nation and one of the fastest-growing
digital markets — sees the summit as an opportunity to project itself as
a bridge between advanced economies and the Global South.
Officials said the country’s experience in building large-scale digital
public infrastructure, including digital identity and payment platforms,
offer a model for deploying AI at scale while keeping costs low.
“The goal is clear: AI should be used for shaping humanity, inclusive
growth and a sustainable future,” India’s Minister for Electronics and
Information Technology Ashwini Vaishnaw said.
The summit begins Monday and will be attended by 20 heads of state and
government, including French President Emmanuel Macron and Brazilian
President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. India’s Prime Minister Narendra
Modi will address a session Thursday.
Google’s Chief Executive Sundar Pichai, Qualcomm’s CEO Cristiano Amon,
OpenAI’s CEO Sam Altman, Microsoft’s President Brad Smith and AMI Labs
Executive Chairman Yann LeCun are also expected to attend.
Indian executives are hoping the summit will reflect the country’s
recognition as an enabler of national capabilities, economic resilience
and long-term capabilities.
“As India continues on the journey to become a developed nation by 2047,
AI has a critical role to play in strengthening large scale systems,
from energy and manufacturing to public infrastructure,” said Sumant
Sinha, the CEO of the NASDAQ-listed ReNew, a clean energy company.
Summit to adopt New Delhi declaration
Like previous editions, the India AI Impact Summit is not expected to
result in a joint binding political agreement. It’s more likely that the
event could end with a non-binding pledge or declaration on goals for AI
development.
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Security people walk at the venue of AI-Summit in New Delhi, India,
Monday, Feb. 16, 2026. (AP Photo)
 Last year’s edition, the Paris AI
Action Summit, was dominated by U.S. Vice President JD Vance’s
speech in which he rebuked European efforts to curb AI’s risks by
warning global leaders and tech industry executives against
“excessive regulation” that could hobble the rapidly growing AI
industry.
AI summits have evolved since the first meeting in November 2023,
barely a year after the launch of ChatGPT, which stoked both
excitement and fear about the capabilities of generative artificial
intelligence.
That meeting at a former code breaking base north of London was
attended only by official delegations from 28 countries and the
European Union, along with a small number of AI execs and
researchers, and was focused on keeping AI safe and reining in its
potentially catastrophic risks.
Ahead of the India meeting, a panel of experts released a second
annual safety report on the risks posed by the most advanced AI
systems, including through misuse, malfunctions and so-called
systemic risks.
AI governance efforts are also underway elsewhere, including at the
United Nations, which last year adopted a resolution to set up two
key bodies on AI — a global forum and an independent scientific
panel of experts.
“The whole point of this report is to build an international
consensus on the state of the science regarding the emerging risks
of AI,” said Yoshua Bengio, a prominent scientist known as one of
the “Godfathers of AI” who led the study. “It’s really important
that the world will continue to have a strong independent scientific
evaluation of the risks.”
Reskilling key to hedging AI impact on jobs
Like elsewhere, there have been concerns in India about AI’s adverse
effect on jobs across technology and allied sectors, but experts
point to reskilling to hedge risks.
“There is a lot of genuine concern around this theme, and I don’t
want to underestimate this impact. But, from an Indian lens,
emphasis is on re-skilling programs and as AI becomes much more
mainstream, you will also see newer job roles coming up,” said
Sangeeta Gupta, senior vice president at Nasscom, a prominent body
representing India’s technology industry.
For 22-year-old Anirudh Singh, pursuing a master’s in social work
from Delhi University, AI makes it easier to prepare internship
projects.
“I think AI is just reducing the tedious work that students
generally had to do,” said Singh.
___
Chan reported from London. Piyush Nagpal and Rishi Lekhi in New
Delhi contributed to this report.
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