Big tech, global leaders, one stage: What to expect from India AI impact summit 2026

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate the India AI Impact Summit 2026 in Delhi, bringing global leaders and tech CEOs together to shape inclusive, responsible artificial intelligence policies.

India is all set to host the first-of-its-kind global technology conference this year – the India AI Impact Summit 2026. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to formally inaugurate the high-profile gathering in February, which will be attended by leading experts and organisations from across the world to “shape the impact of artificial intelligence (AI) towards an inclusive, real-world, and human-centric future”.

Slated to be held at Bharat Mandapam in New Delhi from February 15 to 20, 2026, the India AI Impact Summit is a flagship event where global leaders, governments, CEOs, researchers, AI researchers, developers, and policy makers from over 100 countries will meet to collectively build a shared global agenda on AI. The agenda will bring the world together to address relevant and important questions, while also bridging divides and collaborating to “unlock the power of AI for good”.

“The theme of this summit is “Democratising AI, Bridging the AI Divide”, which will focus on delivering an inclusive AI and moving towards creating a shared global AI agenda, driving cross-border dialogue, and promoting collaborations,” MeitY and the IndiaAI Mission, the organisers of the event, said in a joint statement on December 22. Emphasising on practical and measurable outcomes, the summit will seek to take AI “beyond conversations to implementation, and making AI safe, accessible, and useful for all societies”.

Operating on the basis of the guiding principles of People, Planet, and Progress, termed Sutras in the official documents of the summit, the theme is operationalised through seven thematic Chakras (working groups) covering the entire AI value chain to “support human-centric, planet-positive, and progress-inclusive AI”. The seven Chakras include Human Capital, Innovation, Safety and Trust, Sustainable, Equitable, Inclusive, Products and Services, and Trustworthy and Responsible Governance.

“Democratising AI” also figures as the first priority area of the IndiaAI Mission, the MeitY initiative that will be tasked with the administration of the summit. Some of the flagship initiatives under this area include YUVAi, a youth innovation challenge to spur youth-led solutions; AI by HER to highlight women-led AI solutions and champion female voices in AI; AI for All to catalyse and showcase AI solutions across sectors, and global AI impact expo to display innovations from global startups, enterprises and governments. Other priority areas of the IndiaAI Mission include Funding, Safety, Infrastructure, Ecosystem and Environment and Sustainable Planet.

This year’s summit comes with an important diplomatic dimension as well, with the Indian government sending out invitations to many countries for the event, including Beijing, on the lines of the multilateral AI for Humanity Summit 2023 hosted by French President Emmanuel Macron in June. Government heads from over 15 countries and leaders from Google, DeepMind, Anthropic, Adobe, Salesforce and other organisations are expected to attend the summit in Delhi.