India’s AI Impact Summit kicks off at Bharat Mandapam

On Tuesday, India’s Information Technology Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw apologised to exhibitors at India’s AI Impact Summit for any issue or inconvenience they faced.

He said the summit is meant to look clearly at both the benefits and the harms of AI, and that in the next few days the focus will be on basically measuring what its impact on human society is going to be.

Nikhil Pahwa, founder of Reasoned.live, a platform that tracks AI from an India lens, said global AI players have already moved toward market capture in India while the country is still developing its own systems.

Nikhil said he is watching the ChatGPT platform spread, and Gemini and Copilot show up across Google and Microsoft products to build user habits, and he called it a battle that is already lost.

Ashwini is still upbeat about where India can go with this. He expects about two hundred new AI models, aimed at different industries, to be announced during the summit, and he says India’s AI investments could double to about $140 billion by the time it ends.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi opened the five-day India’s AI Impact Summit in New Delhi and said the whole point of the event is to lay out a shared roadmap for global AI governance and collaboration.

He posted that the occasion shows how fast the country is progressing in science and technology and that it highlights the capability of India’s youth.

The government expects about two hundred and fifty thousand visitors this year, along with twenty national leaders and forty-five ministerial-level delegations, which makes this the biggest edition so far.

India’s Minister for Electronics and Information Technology Ashwini Vaishnaw said the goal is for AI to be used for shaping humanity, inclusive growth, and a sustainable future.

Key attendees include Sam Altman, Sundar Pichai, Dario Amodei, and Demis Hassabis. Jensen Huang was expected earlier but pulled out on Saturday because of unforeseen circumstances.

Last year’s edition, the Paris AI Action Summit, was shaped by JD Vance warning global leaders and tech executives against excessive regulation that could slow down the fast-growing AI industry.

India’s AI Impact Summit opened with long lines, crowded halls, and people saying the organisation at the New Delhi venue felt rough from the start.

Delegates claim the building was suddenly cleared for security checks before high-level arrivals, and the instructions were so unclear that many were trying to figure out how to get their things back after being pushed out.

Some speakers set for Tuesday said they still don’t have confirmed panel times or final agendas. The summit’s official website describes AI as something that can reshape society and help developing countries leap ahead through multi-modal and multi-lingual tools that widen access to opportunities.

Narendra Modi said he wants the event to follow the theme of welfare for all, happiness for all, and his government has been pushing for India to become a tech superpower through moves like approving $18 billion in semiconductor projects, pushing companies such as Apple to manufacture more in the country, and encouraging a startup wave that has led to more IPOs on India’s exchanges.