India hosts a high-stakes AI summit, drawing 20 leaders and top tech CEOs

NEW DELHI — India is hosting an artificial intelligence summit this week, bringing together heads of state, senior officials and tech executives to New Delhi for a five-day gathering highlighting the growing global importance of the technology.

Organizers said the India AI Impact Summit is the first such summit being held in the Global South to discuss the technology developed and dominated by wealthy companies based in rich countries. It comes at a pivotal moment as AI rapidly transforms economies, reshapes labor markets and raises questions around regulations, security and ethics.

From generative AI tools that can produce text and images to advanced systems used in defense, health care and climate modeling, AI has become a central focus for governments and corporations across the world.

The summit, previously held in France, the U.K. and South Korea, has evolved far beyond its modest beginnings as a meeting tightly focused on the safety of cutting-edge AI systems into an all-purpose jamboree trade fair in which safety is just one aspect.

India aspires to be a rising AI power

India — the world's most populous nation and one of the fastest-growing digital markets — sees the summit as an opportunity to project itself as a bridge between advanced economies and the Global South.

Officials said the country's experience in building large-scale digital public infrastructure, including digital identity and payment platforms, offer a model for deploying AI at scale while keeping costs low.

The summit begins Monday and will be attended by 20 heads of state and government, including French President Emmanuel Macron and Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi will address a session Thursday.

Google's Chief Executive Sundar Pichai, Qualcomm's CEO Cristiano Amon, OpenAI's CEO Sam Altman, Microsoft's President Brad Smith and AMI Labs Executive Chairman Yann LeCun are also expected to attend.

Indian executives are hoping the summit will reflect the country's recognition as an enabler of national capabilities, economic resilience and long-term capabilities.

''As India continues on the journey to become a developed nation by 2047, AI has a critical role to play in strengthening large scale systems, from energy and manufacturing to public infrastructure,'' said Sumant Sinha, the CEO of the NASDAQ-listed ReNew, a clean energy company.

Summit to adopt New Delhi declaration

Last year's edition, the Paris AI Action Summit, was dominated by U.S. Vice President JD Vance's speech in which he rebuked European efforts to curb AI's risks by warning global leaders and tech industry executives against ''excessive regulation'' that could hobble the rapidly growing AI industry.

AI summits have evolved since the first meeting in November 2023, barely a year after the launch of ChatGPT, which stoked both excitement and fear about the capabilities of generative artificial intelligence.

That meeting at a former code breaking base north of London was attended only by official delegations from 28 countries and the European Union, along with a small number of AI execs and researchers, and was focused on keeping AI safe and reining in its potentially catastrophic risks.

Ahead of the India meeting, a panel of experts released a second annual safety report on the risks posed by the most advanced AI systems, including through misuse, malfunctions and so-called systemic risks.

AI governance efforts are also underway elsewhere, including at the United Nations, which last year adopted a resolution to set up two key bodies on AI — a global forum and an independent scientific panel of experts.

Reskilling key to hedging AI impact on jobs

Like elsewhere, there have been concerns in India about AI's adverse effect on jobs across technology and allied sectors, but experts point to reskilling to hedge risks.

''There is a lot of genuine concern around this theme, and I don't want to underestimate this impact. But, from an Indian lens, emphasis is on re-skilling programs and as AI becomes much more mainstream, you will also see newer job roles coming up,'' said Sangeeta Gupta, senior vice president at Nasscom, a prominent body representing India's technology industry.

For 22-year-old Anirudh Singh, pursuing a master's in social work from Delhi University, AI makes it easier to prepare internship projects.

''I think AI is just reducing the tedious work that students generally had to do,'' said Singh.