New Delhi became the centre of the global AI world on February 19, 2026, as the India AI Impact Summit brought together heads of state, technology leaders, policymakers, and researchers from over 100 countries at Bharat Mandapam. It was a landmark moment — the first time a summit of this scale on artificial intelligence was hosted in the Global South.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi used the occasion to articulate India’s position clearly and with purpose. Without seeing AI through the lens of caution or competitive advantage, the PM framed it as a shared responsibility for humanity. He drew a pointed historical parallel, comparing the moment to the discovery of nuclear power — a technology capable of both tremendous good and devastating harm, depending on how it is directed. The message was clear: the choices made about AI today will define what gets handed to the generations that follow.
Central to Modi’s address was the launch of India’s MANAV Vision — an acronym-based framework for guiding AI development. The five pillars it rests on are moral and ethical systems, accountable governance, national sovereignty, accessible and inclusive technology, and valid and legitimate systems. It’s a human-centric blueprint designed to ensure that AI serves people rather than reducing them to raw data.
On the question of jobs — one of the most anxious debates surrounding AI globally — Modi offered a broader view, drawing a comparison with the internet. Just as nobody in the early days of the web could predict the scale of employment it would eventually generate, the full picture of what AI will create remains to be written. The PM positioned this uncertainty not as a threat, but as an opportunity for skilling, reskilling, and lifelong learning to become a national priority.
Modi also made a strong push for AI to be developed as a global public good, with open systems that allow young developers everywhere to contribute to improving and securing it. He stressed that India holds a natural advantage here — a vast, young, technically skilled population, strong digital infrastructure, and a regulatory environment that welcomes innovation.
On governance, the PM called for three core international commitments: a global framework for data sovereignty, transparent safety standards for AI platforms, and the embedding of clear human values into AI design from the start. He specifically raised the growing threat of deepfakes and AI-generated misinformation, calling for watermarking standards and authenticity labels as urgent, practical steps.
UN Secretary-General António Guterres, who also addressed the summit, announced a 40-member independent international scientific panel on AI and a UN-led Global Dialogue on AI governance — signalling that the conversations started in New Delhi are set to shape policy far beyond Indian borders.
