India Seeks Role in Shaping AI Future at Global AI Summit

India is hosting a major AI summit in New Delhi that draws global tech leaders and researchers, and the government is using the event to spotlight national digital infrastructure and new locally developed AI models.

India is hosting one of the world's largest artificial intelligence gatherings in New Delhi, where Prime Minister Narendra Modi is seeking to clear a path for India in the global race to develop frontier AI models. World leaders, technology executives and AI researchers are attending, including Sundar Pichai, Sam Altman, Dario Amodei and Alexandr Wang, along with researchers such as Yann LeCun and Arthur Mensch. The summit's final two days, Feb. 19-20, will include a keynote from French President Emmanuel Macron followed by remarks from Modi. Organizers are using the event to showcase India's digital infrastructure and engineering talent. Key details: - The India AI Impact Summit brings a wide range of participants, including corporate executives, AI founders, investors and academic researchers. - The event's final two days are slated for Feb. 19-20, with a keynote by French President Emmanuel Macron and closing remarks from Prime Minister Modi. - India highlights its digital identity and payment systems, including Aadhaar and the open-source MOSIP platform, which is being used by other countries to build national ID systems. - India is ranked third globally in AI competitiveness by Stanford University's Institute for Human-Centered AI, behind the U.S. and China. - Global firms are expanding in India: OpenAI and Anthropic are setting up operations, Google and Meta are expanding data centers, and Nvidia’s chief withdrew from the summit citing "unforeseen circumstances." - Local AI projects will be unveiled, including BharatGen's Param2 (a 17-billion-parameter model supporting 22 Indian languages) and larger voice-first models from Sarvam AI; officials and industry figures emphasize affordability and the need to strengthen domestic research capacity. Summary: The summit positions India as a prominent forum for discussions about AI development, deployment and the export of digital platforms. The gathering will conclude with scheduled keynotes and the unveiling of locally developed models on Feb. 19-20, and further outcomes are undetermined at this time.