Friday 20 / February / 2026
Dubai: The world's tallest building, Burj Khalifa, shone brightly to celebrate India's hosting of the AI Impact Summit in New Delhi, showcasing the growing India-UAE ties in technology and innovation.
Sharing the video of Dubai's Burj Khalifa on X, the Indian Embassy in the UAE said, "The world's tallest building celebrates India AI Impact Summit 2026! The iconic Burj Khalifa shines bright for the India AI Impact Summit 2026. A powerful symbol of the growing India-UAE partnership in tech, innovation & AI."
The India AI Impact Summit 2026 has indeed drawn global attention, with leaders like French President Emmanuel Macron and tech giants like Google, Microsoft, and Nvidia announcing significant investments in India's AI ecosystem.
The summit, hosted under India's expanding digital policy framework, comes at a time when AI governance is a major global issue. With India currently holding the BRICS presidency under Narendra Modi, the French leader highlighted what he described as a unique opportunity for Paris and New Delhi to align their global platforms to promote responsible AI development.
The India AI Impact Summit has brought together government policymakers, industry AI experts, academicians, technology innovators and civil society from across the world at New Delhi to advance global discussions on artificial intelligence.
The India-AI Impact Summit 2026 is a landmark global event held from 16 to 21 February 2026 at Bharat Mandapam, New Delhi. It is the first global AI summit hosted in the Global South, following previous summits in the UK (2023), South Korea (2024), and France (2025).
The India AI Impact Summit, the first global AI summit to be hosted in the Global South, reflects on the transformative potential of AI, aligning with the national vision of "Sarvajana Hitaya, Sarvajana Sukhaya" (welfare for all, happiness for all) and the global principle of AI for Humanity. This summit is part of an evolving international process aimed at strengthening global cooperation on the governance, safety, and societal impact of AI.
The India AI Impact Summit 2026 is guided by three Sutras or foundational pillars - People, Planet, and Progress. These sutras articulate the core principles for global cooperation on artificial intelligence. They aim to promote human-centric AI that safeguards rights and ensures equitable benefits across societies, environmentally sustainable advancement of AI, and inclusive economic and technological advancement.
PM Narendra Modi unveiled the MANAV Vision (Moral and Ethical Systems, Accountable Governance, National Sovereignty, Accessible and Inclusive, Valid and Legitimate).
Tata Group & OpenAI announced a partnership to build 100 MW of AI infrastructure in India, scalable to 1 GW.
The summit saw the launch of BharatGen Param2 (a 17-billion parameter model for 22 languages) and new large language models from Sarvam AI.
The India AI Impact Expo was extended by one day, concluding on February 21, due to strong public interest.
The Summit saw participation of more than 110 countries, 30 International organizations, including about 20 HoS/HoG level participation, and about 45 Ministers.
Key investments include Google's USD 15 billion AI hub in Visakhapatnam, Microsoft's USD 50 billion plan by 2030 for Global South AI, including India, and Nvidia's partnership to deploy advanced Blackwell GPUs for sovereign AI.
