On 16th February 2026, PM Modi welcomed global leaders, innovators, and industry captains from around the world in New Delhi for the India AI Impact Summit, held at Bharat Mandapam.
The Summit, the first global AI gathering hosted in the Global South, witnessed unprecedented participation, with over 20 heads of state, 60 ministers, and 500 global AI leaders. Tech giants, both domestic and international, attended, including Reliance’s Mukesh Ambani, Tata Sons chairman N. Chandrasekaran, Microsoft’s Bill Gates, UN Chief Antonio Guterres, Google CEO Sundar Pichai, and DeepMind CEO Demis Hassabis, among many others.
Heads of state, ranging from the Prime Minister of Kazakhstan to French President Emmanuel Macron, were present and shared their perspectives.
This was the first time India hosted a summit on AI on such a large scale, but no event in India is without its share of controversies. While many successes took place during the summit, there were also notable issues.
India AI Impact Summit Marred by Chaos
Given the scale of the event, one expected smooth execution, but the summit faced challenges from day one. On the opening day, the event drew real-time online criticism regarding its organization and management.
Social media users documented long queues, overcrowding, issues with access cards, poor internet connectivity, and general lapses at the venue. One widely shared post described the chaos: queues began at 7 AM, entry was permitted at 9 AM, followed by a full evacuation at noon for sanitization. PM Modi’s visit eventually took place, but exhibitors, startup founders, and delegates were left waiting for hours with no water or communication. “No water. No clarity. Media shows celebration. Ground reality was chaos,” one user wrote.
India Joins US-Led Pax Silica
On 20th February, 2026, India officially integrated into Pax Silica, a US-led strategic initiative representing a key shift in India’s foreign policy, aimed at cementing a high-tech alliance with Washington. By joining this framework, New Delhi is signalling its intent to move past recent trade frictions and collaborate on the foundational technologies that define modern economic power.
Launch Of Made-In-India Sovereign AI LLM Models
The India AI Impact Summit 2026 showcased three sovereign AI models built under the IndiaAI Mission: Sarvam AI’s Vikram and 105B-parameter models for reasoning and offline use, Gnani.ai’s Vachana TTS/STT for multilingual, high-quality voice cloning, and BharatGen’s Param2 17B MoE for legal, governance, and sector-specific AI in 22 Indian languages.
These initiatives aim to make AI accessible across India, even in low-bandwidth regions, supporting government services, education, and public engagement. Global leaders, including Sundar Pichai, praised India’s developer ecosystem and AI progress.
