India’s big-ticket push for global prominence in artificial intelligence begins on 16 February. The AI Impact Summit has driven hotel prices higher across New Delhi, and attendance rates for global heads of state match those seen when India hosted the G20 summit in 2023. Why is there such hype around a technology event, and what does the summit seek to achieve? mint explains.
What is India’s AI Impact Summit all about?
The India AI Impact Summit, organized by the ministry of electronics and IT (Meity), primarily seeks to establish the country’s intent in a technology that has been billed as the biggest foundational shift since the industrial revolution. With Big Tech of the US pursuing foundational technologies, and China making a mark with democratizing the cost of AI, the summit will seek to highlight India’s market size, technology concepts from researchers, and build consensus on a doctrine.
Participating nations may become signatories to the use of AI in public services, defense applications, cyber security and digital trade—key areas that have come up in geopolitical discussions over the past three years. Also on show will be AI models or foundational algorithms that startups backed by the state-funded AI Mission have built over the past two years.
Is this the first summit of its scale?
This is the fourth such summit. The first was hosted by the UK in November 2023, when India became a signatory to the Bletchley Park declaration. The document focused on AI safety, deepfakes and misinformation, robotics and factory automation.
The second summit in South Korea took the previous declaration forward with the Seoul statement–India was among the 27 countries and the European Union that signed this safety declaration. India was the co-chair of the third edition of the global AI summit in France, with the prime minister in attendance in February 2025.
Where is India in the global race for AI dominance?
Stanford’s global AI vibrancy tool ranks India third overall in artificial intelligence, with the country having the world’s biggest AI talent after Singapore. India also ranked right behind the US and China in research and development, indicating it is among the top countries worldwide in AI development. However, India is also seen falling behind in the development of foundational AI models such as ChatGPT, Claude and Gemini.
India has been one of the world’s largest technology markets, but has been largely driven by cost arbitrage, drawing global companies to set up backend tech operations at low cost here. With the current government push and an overarching showcase at the AI Impact Summit, India wants to change this perception. Much of it will depend on multilateral talks at the summit and on how India’s AI models and applications are received.
Which global leaders and CEOs are expected at the summit?
French president Emmanuel Macron will be in New Delhi this week to attend India’s AI Impact Summit. A delegation from China, which has been one of the world’s leaders in technology, will also be in the national capital—though neither the Chinese embassy nor Meity confirmed which state-level officials will represent India’s neighbor.
Among top executives in attendance will be Alphabet’s Sundar Pichai, Google DeepMind’s Demis Hassabis, OpenAI’s Sam Altman, Anthropic’s Dario Amodei, Accenture’s Julie Sweet, marquee investor Vinod Khosla and Microsoft’s Brad Smith, among others.
However, one notable last-minute exclusion was Nvidia’s Jensen Huang, with his company representatives confirming on Saturday that “unforeseen circumstances” led him to cancel the India trip. The executive, who leads the world’s most valuable company, was expected to be one of the star attractions at the summit and was scheduled to deliver the keynote address on 19 February. A senior official called the exclusion a “logistical issue, and not intentional”.
What will the week-long summit offer Indian AI firms?
India expects sweeping data center and related announcements from companies and in-person policy conversations among participating nations.
India also wants to offer its government-funded AI compute model as a digital public infrastructure service to countries. Companies can participate in India’s efforts to build its AI stack. And the expo and AI showcases may help domestic firms forge global partnerships.
The summit will offer startups that used India’s AI Mission to develop foundational AI models an opportunity to connect with global clients. The event will also be an opportunity to demonstrate physical and experiential AI use cases in therapy, education, communications and security.
Access to the world’s largest venture capital firms and partners will also be a key factor for the country’s AI startups, which do not get funding at the scale of their US peers.
