IMPACT OF FIRST SOUTH AI SUMMIT(INDIA) 2026.

BACKGROND

Artificial Intelligence (AI) has been defined as the ability of machines to perform tasks that require human intelligence, learning experiences, adapting to new situations, and solving complicated problems using data sets,alogriths,and large language models.AI eco system in India comprise of rapidly expanding technology sector with over 6 million people employed in tech and AI eco system.Further India currently hosted about 1800 Global Capability Centers (GCC) with more than 500 focused on AI and about 87% of enterprises are actively using AI solutions. Infact GCC s in India is witnessing dynamic growth despite challenges like inadequate talents, cyber security risks and fiscal pressures. Based on India's development approach to AI AI india Summit 2026  focused on translating global discussions into development outcomes aligned with national  priorities under the India AI Mission and Digital India Initiative. It is expected to strengthen multilateral cooperation while advancing practical and people centric AI framework relevant to India's governance economy and sustainable development 

The fourth AI Summit, the first that held in India(Global South) was attended by global tech leaders from about 20 counties and representatives from nearly 100 counties. There were more than 2.5 lakhs registrations, 700 sessions and more than 3000 speakers to focus on different aspects and dimensions of AI in various sectors comprising of health care,agriculture,education, energy,finance and governance itself. It has been specifically observed that AI can be efficiently utiliised for building Governance norms and curb misuse and bias.India has built an LLM with good number of start ups along with upcoming AI technology.According to Indian official position AI  should develop ultimately keeping in view of people, planet,and progress(P PPs) with utmost importance. With regard to planet,  AI has already well documented water and energy demand. Country may require  more AI research centers to popularise semiconductors and rare earths.In India IIT Madras has emerged as a  cradle of start ups drawing about $ 2 billion.India is focusing on the impact of AI on IT industry and AI based  services. It will launch Sovereign AI models with strong performances compared to other models. Indian Government has committed to make $90 billion investment in AI infrastructure which is expected to grow more than $200 billion. The main benefit of these measures to society include protecting data with Sovereign models and establishing consensual AI governance. India's semiconductor mission launched in 2022 has been making significant progress and principal companies like Nividia,AMD,Qualcomm,and Broadcom are designing advanced chips in the country.India has also created a vast talent pipeline training over 70000 engineers in chip design across 315 universities. More significantly the first among ten approved semiconductor manufacturing units in India is set to begin  commercial production shortly.

IMPACT

Unlike developed countries instead of seeking largely for regulatory framework India's approach towards Impact Summit was focused on  inclusive " human centric approach " towards divergent issues that confronted.India has consistently championed the voice of developing countries.AI summit.with  packed halls presence of global CEO s like Google's Sundar Pittchai,San Altman NVIDIA   CEOJenson Huang,Deep Mind and other tech experts, innovators,policy makers and researchers came together under one roof  to explore analyse and address the  scope,  dimensions and impact  of AI to the global economic and social development in general and development of developing countries  in particular. Impact event featured above 3000 speakers and more than 300 exhibits and 5 demonstration of AI,  technology and start ups witnessed invaluable  presence of the  heads of 18 participant countries including Switzerland, Spain, Zambia Croatia, Estonia, Netherlands, Finland,& Greece,Mauritius, Bhutan, and Srilanka from  the neighbourhood. 

India AI Impact Summit 2026 adopted the New Delhi Declaration on AI as the Impact making  significant milestone in global cooperation in Artificial Intelligence AI.The Summit declaration has been endorsed by 88 countries and international organizations reflecting a  broad based global consensus on leveraging AI for both social and economic development. The participating countries expressed their commitment to enhanced cooperation for translating these aspirations into the concrete action̈s. it also  called  for futher strengthening of international cooperation and multilevel  Indian AI models and products which  were unveiled during Summit. For instance SARVAM AI an Indian Laboratory, launched a new generation of Large Language Models including 30 billion and 106 billion parameter models using a mixture of experts at architecture as well as text to speech and speech to text  vision models. Similarly the  Government backed Bhaurat Gen Param2 model, a 17 billion parameter model supporting 22 Indian languages with multimodal capabilities were  also launched in the Summit by India.

MAJOR CHALLENGES 

AI Impact Summit pointed out various challenges related to the global development and deployment of AI with greater efficiency and focus on equity, sovereignty and practical implementation. The main concern is related to excessive dependence on foreign technology particularly that of US and Chinese companies for AI computing infrastructure, data and and frontier models. Another challenge is hardware and infrastructure constraints like GPU shortages and high costs of Graphics processing units (GPU) and energy demands acting as critical barriers especially for developing countries like India. There is also the risk of work force disruption, need for  adequate upskilling and redeployment of AI driven job displacement. Other issues raised by the participants were trust, safety, and Governance ,child protection from AI, Digital abuse and addressing lack of transparency.Democratisation Of AI assumed importance because the process including AI technology  comprising of tools and benefits  accessible to a wide range  of users ,instead of restricting  to a small group of tech companies or experts etc.At the same time there was a strong push to ensure AI benefits reach small farmers ,women,and youth through AI initiatives.Accordin to Nandan Nilkeni AI does not eliminate the need for services but changes their nature.Many powerful models are being developed by global technology giants .On the contrary most large organizations struggle not with access to technology but with integration...AI must be deployed before it can deliver value.Deploying AI requires  cleaning data,redesigning process, retraining staff and ensuring regulatory compliance

CONCLUDING OBSERVATIONS 

Large scale applications of AI  technology is bound to create structural and temporary unemployment. If AI enables companies to do more with fewer workers or with differently skilled workers the ripple effects are more. Recently concluded AI India Summit provided great opportunities in India's Digital journey with valuable participation of global CEOs  innovators, policy makers and researchers under one roof Indian players like Sarvam and Bharat Gen  unveiled model tailored for Indian languages, governance needs and sector specific use cases.India's AI story  should penetrate beyond English speaking urban elites and address issues related to agriculture, eduation, health care and public service delivery and governance. Once these models start delivering on scale, costs and linguistic diversity it is easier to democratise AI in India. The Delhi declaration seeks to anchor AI development in a world fractured over  technology  governance, wherein AIs risks and rewards are global. Global technology leaders like Sam Altman, Sundar Pittchai and Vinod Kohsla had made  interesting observations. It may be noted here that while AI may enhance human capabilities the ultimate decision making responsibility must also remain with humans  small group.Educational  institutions -  schools ,colleges, research institutions etc should prepare their curricula with a global perspective where humans can easily collaborate with machines or  AI .AI systems will be crucial to  future development of almost all sectors. Accordingly  companies deploying AI at scale should commit to structured workforce transitions,identifying roles at risk ,mapping emerging opportunities and investing in training.In any case the cost of transition should not be entirely shifted to  displaced workers. In short since AI must be human centric ethical regulation and transparency are utmost important. The Summit declaration notes the charter for democratic diffusion of AI with a voluntary framework to expand  access to foundational AI tools, that support local innovation and build resilient AI eco systems while respecting relevant national laws.As of now developing countries dynamic role and participation in AI development is very much crucial especially where  China and US  alone account for 70% of global products and research in Artificial Intelligence(AI).