New Delhi: The India AI Impact Summit 2026 will focus on “Democratising AI, Bridging the AI Divide”, Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology Secretary S. Krishnan said on Monday.
While briefing the media in New Delhi, Krishnan outlined the vision and progress of the upcoming global AI event. He said artificial intelligence must remain widely accessible. Moreover, it must support human development across regions.
However, Krishnan warned that AI risks becoming concentrated in a few geographies. As a result, a limited group of companies could control key capabilities. Therefore, governments must treat AI as a horizontal and enabling technology.
Accordingly, Krishnan said the India AI Impact Summit would prioritise access to compute, models and data. In turn, wider access would help countries develop AI tools suited to local needs.
Consequently, such solutions could improve productivity in healthcare, agriculture, governance, education and manufacturing. Ultimately, this approach would ensure benefits reach a much wider population.
Meanwhile, senior officials from MeitY and allied institutions attended the briefing. These included IndiaAI CEO Abhishek Singh and Digital India Corporation CEO Akhil Kumar.
Seven thematic chakras to guide India AI Impact Summit agenda
Importantly, officials said the Summit rests on three guiding Sutras—People, Planet and Progress. Together, these principles define how AI should serve society, protect the environment and enable inclusive growth.
To operationalise this vision, seven thematic Chakras will structure the Summit’s discussions. For instance, the Human Capital Chakra focuses on skills, literacy and workforce transitions. Similarly, Inclusion for Social Empowerment addresses linguistic and cultural representation in AI systems.
At the same time, the Safe and Trusted AI Chakra promotes transparent governance and accountability. Likewise, the Resilience, Innovation and Efficiency Chakra stresses frugal and energy-efficient AI for constrained environments.
In addition, the Science Chakra aims to expand inclusive research collaboration, especially across the Global South. Meanwhile, Democratising AI Resources focuses on fair access to datasets and compute. Finally, AI for Economic Growth and Social Good seeks to scale proven use cases.
Notably, months of consultations shaped these themes. For example, public feedback through MyGov received over 600 responses. Similarly, stakeholder discussions involved more than 500 organisations.
As part of preparations, organisers held around 300 pre-summit events. Of these, 57 took place across more than 25 countries. Furthermore, flagship initiatives linked to the India AI Impact Summit have drawn over 15,000 registrations from 135 countries.
Meanwhile, the Ministry announced that media accreditation for the Summit’s 2026 edition is now open. The event will take place at Bharat Mandapam in New Delhi.
