World’s largest AI Impact Summit opens in India

The world's largest artificial intelligence summit opened to packed halls and long queues on Monday, as tech moguls, industry leaders, policymakers, founders, and technologists thronged the venue for the conference, where India is set to push for widening access to AI and seek international agreement on global AI commons. With huge billboards around the city welcoming delegates, speakers and guests at the AI Impact Summit, Bharat Mandapam saw long queues much before the conference opened at 09.30 hours, signalling the interest in the subject and the conference. The enthusiasm was high despite the fact that the high profile speakers - from Sundar Pichai of Alphabet to Sam Altman of OpenAI and Dario Amodei of Anthropic - haven't even arrived in the country. Their sessions start not before Wednesday.

Final two days of the Summit – February 19 and 20 – will see more than 20 heads of state and government, including France’s Emmanuel Macron and Brazil’s Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, along with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, talking about the future of AI alongside business leaders and investors. From February 16 to 20, the summit will feature over 3,250 speakers and more than 500 sessions.
An expo where the who’s who of the tech industry – from Google to Nvidia, Amazon, Meta, OpenAI and Microsoft besides homegrown giants – put on display innovations on AI is held alongside. Focused on AI’s transformative impact, it includes 300+ exhibitions, 13 country pavilions, and addresses themes of People, Planet, and Progress.Social media is filled with posts of people complaining about issues at the summit.Secretary of Minister of Electronics and Information Technology S Krishnan has confirmed that over 2.5 lakh participants from India and around the world have registered for the ongoing India Impact AI Summit.

The India AI Impact Expo 2026, organised by MeitY, Govt. of India with STPI as custodian, brings together 400+ exhibitors, 150,000+ attendees & 7+ thematic pavilions across 70,000+ sqm of innovation. Where ideas meet industry. #IndiaAIImpactSummit2026 @abhish18 pic.twitter.com/p1qHPXGSXc

— Ministry of Electronics & IT (@GoI_MeitY) February 16, 2026

Spread across 10 arenas covering over 70,000 square metres, the event will host global technology companies, startups, academic and research institutions, Union Ministries, State Governments, and international partners.Thirteen country pavilions will highlight international collaboration in the AI ecosystem, including participation from Australia, Japan, Russia, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Serbia, Estonia, Tajikistan, and African nations.