AI Impact Summit kicks off in Delhi; CEOs and ministers gather at Bharat Mandapam

New Delhi: India on Monday began hosting the five-day AI Impact Summit at Bharat Mandapam, bringing together global political leaders, technology CEOs, policymakers and researchers as countries intensify efforts to shape Artificial Intelligence policy, standards and adoption.

The summit, scheduled from February 16 to 20, is positioned by the government as a platform to showcase India’s talent base, digital public infrastructure and startup ecosystem, while pushing a “human-centric and inclusive” approach to AI deployment.

“The key message we want to send is that whatever happens with AI needs to be human-centric and inclusive. There needs to be democratic access to AI resources, and it needs to be done in a way where people are at the centre of this process,” IT Secretary S Krishnan said.

At Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s invitation, several global leaders are scheduled to attend, including French President Emmanuel Macron and Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, officials said. 

Ministerial delegations from over 45 countries are expected, along with the UN Secretary-General and senior officials from international organisations, underscoring the high-level global engagement around AI governance and adoption.

Officials said that seven thematic working groups, co-chaired by representatives from the Global North and the Global South, will present deliverables that include proposals for an AI Commons, trusted AI tools, shared compute infrastructure, and sector-specific compendiums of AI use cases. 

Over 700 sessions are planned across five days, with discussions spanning AI safety, governance, ethical use, data protection, and India’s approach to sovereign AI, including work on indigenous foundation models for strategic sectors.

Prime Minister Modi is expected to address the summit, visit the expo and hold interactions with CEOs, with the proceedings being watched closely by governments and industry for cues on policy direction and collaboration opportunities

A key parallel draw is the India AI Impact Expo 2026, which the Prime Minister’s Office said Modi will inaugurate at 5 pm on February 16 at Bharat Mandapam. The expo will run alongside the summit from February 16 to 20 and is positioned as a national showcase of “AI in action”, with global firms, startups, academia, Union ministries, state governments and international partners participating.

According to the official advisory, the expo arena will remain closed on February 16 due to the inauguration, and will open to all visitors from February 17. The organisers have outlined entry via registration using DigiYatra or a QR code on the summit app, with restricted access through designated gates and shuttle services from specified parking zones.

The PMO statement said the expo is spread across 10 arenas over more than 70,000 square metres, and will host over 300 curated exhibition pavilions and live demonstrations structured around three thematic “chakras” — people, planet and progress. 

The exhibition will feature 13 country pavilions, including Australia, Japan, Russia, the UK, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Serbia, Estonia, Tajikistan and Africa, besides an “Africa” pavilion, and showcase over 600 startups. The expo is expected to draw over 2.5 lakh visitors, including international delegates, the statement said.

The summit’s “power list” of global technology leaders includes Sundar Pichai (Google), Sam Altman (OpenAI), Demis Hassabis (Google DeepMind), Dario Amodei (Anthropic) and Microsoft president Brad Smith, among others. 

Coverage ahead of the summit has also highlighted expectations that announcements and strategic signals from frontier AI labs and big tech players will be closely tracked by audiences and markets.

Another talking point around the summit is India’s emerging AI “rulebook”, as industry debates recent amendments to the IT Rules and related FAQs on labelling and accountability for AI-generated content. 

The summit will provide insights into India’s approach to deepfakes and AI misinformation, and into its wider “innovation-first” stance, positioned as distinct from the EU’s regulation-heavy model and the US’ market-led approach.

“Concerns of each society and each country are different in where the negative impact could lie, and so we need to understand that our approach to regulate AI will depend on the objective situations we find ourselves in,” Krishnan said. “If we need to legislate and regulate, we can do it quickly and do it in a way that does not impact innovation.”

The summit also has a geopolitical framing. Officials said it is the first global AI summit hosted in the Global South, with India pushing for equitable access to AI resources and fair rule-making. Expectations include outcomes such as a joint declaration, a framework for responsible AI deployment in developing economies, or a roadmap for shared research and compute infrastructure.

In the national capital, Delhi Police rolled out heightened security and traffic management plans for the summit period, citing VIP movement and the start of CBSE board examinations from February 17. 

More than 10,000 police personnel have been deployed for security arrangements, with a large traffic deployment to manage diversions and regulated stretches around key central Delhi corridors. 

Police said access to Bharat Mandapam will be regulated through QR code-based accreditation, and a dedicated coordination cell will oversee intelligence sharing, route planning and real-time response.

Commuters have been advised to plan travel with buffer time and follow official advisories, with police saying essential services will receive uninterrupted passage.