French President Macron and Brazilian leader Lula were expected to attend the summit to outline global AI governance and cooperation.
India will host an artificial intelligence summit this week, bringing together heads of state and technology executives with critical issues including job disruption and child safety on the agenda.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will kick off the five-day AI Impact Summit in New Delhi on Monday afternoon, declaring a “shared roadmap for global AI governance and cooperation.”
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“This event is further evidence that our country is rapidly developing in the field of science and technology,” he said in X Post on Monday. “It shows the capabilities of our country’s youth.”
Billed as its largest ever, the Indian government is expecting 250,000 visitors from across the industry, including 20 state leaders and 45 ministerial delegations.
We are at a critical moment, as AI is rapidly transforming the economy, reshaping labor markets, and raising questions about regulation, security, and ethics.
From generative AI tools that can generate text and images to advanced systems used in defense, healthcare, and climate modeling, AI has become a central focus for governments and businesses around the world.
Previously held in France, the UK and South Korea, the summit has grown beyond its humble beginnings as a conference focused on the safety of cutting-edge AI systems to become a multi-purpose jamboree trade show where safety is just one aspect.
‘AI should be used to shape humanity’
India, the world’s most populous country and one of the fastest-growing digital markets, sees the summit as an opportunity to build bridges between developed countries and the Global South.
Officials said the country’s experience building large-scale digital public infrastructure, including digital identity and payment platforms, provides a model for deploying AI at scale while keeping costs low.
“The goal is clear: AI should be used to shape humanity, achieve inclusive growth and ensure a sustainable future,” said Ashwini Vaishnaw, India’s Minister of Electronics and Information Technology.
French President Emmanuel Macron and Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva are also among world leaders attending the summit.
Google CEO Sundar Pichai, Qualcomm CEO Cristiano Amon, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, Microsoft President Brad Smith and AMI Labs Chairman Yann LeCun are also expected to attend.
New Delhi Declaration
The summit has a loose theme of ‘people, progress, and planet’, which is called the ‘Three Worlds’.
Like previous editions, the India AI Impact Summit is not expected to lead to a jointly binding political agreement. The event will likely end with a non-binding pledge or declaration of AI development goals.
At last year’s Paris AI Action Summit, US Vice President JD Vance’s speech dominated. He rebuked Europe’s efforts to curb the risks of AI by warning global leaders and tech industry executives about “over-regulation” that could dampen the fast-growing AI industry.
The AI Summit has evolved since its first meeting in November 2023, just one year after the launch of ChatGPT, which sparked excitement and fear about the capabilities of generative artificial intelligence.
The meeting, held at a former cryptocurrency base north of London, was attended only by official delegations from 28 countries and the European Union, along with a small number of AI executives and researchers, and focused on keeping AI safe and containing potentially catastrophic risks.
Seth Hays, author of the Asia AI Policy Monitor newsletter, said the summit would focus on “making sure governments put in some guardrails but don’t restrict AI development.”
“There may be announcements of more national investment in AI, but this may not move the needle much as India needs partnerships to integrate into the international scene in AI,” Hays told AFP.
