PM to inaugurate expo, opening ceremony of India AI Impact Summit in Feb; global leaders, CEOs to attend

New Delhi, Dec 29 (PTI) Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate the expo and the opening ceremony of India AI Impact Summit scheduled in New Delhi from February 15-20, 2026, which will see many global heads of state and CEOs from firms like Google Deepmind, Anthropic, Adobe, Salesforce, Qualcomm, and FedEx converge, and India hopes that the power-packed event will lead to a consensus declaration.

Host India expects that the event will build consensus on key issues around Artificial Intelligence (AI), particularly spotlighting inclusion agenda and democratisation of AI resources.

Notably, the US and China will participate in the upcoming AI summit, their attendance significant given key role they play in global AI discourse.

"We have confirmations from Bill Gates, Demis Hassabis (Google DeepMind CEO), Dario Amodei (Anthropic CEO), Shantanu Narayen (Adobe CEO), Marc Benioff (Salesforce CEO), Cristiano Amon (Qualcomm CEO), Raj Subramaniam (FedEx CEO)," IT Secretary S Krishnan told reporters.

About the big deliverables that can be expected from the summit, Krishnan said an important aim is "to get everyone on board".

A consensus declaration would be an important outcome, he said.

"The idea is to enable building of some sort of consensus on key questions around AI...

"One very constructive thing is the way the focus has shifted from the first AI Summit which was primarily about AI safety to this one which is looking at impact and is forward-looking in terms of all the positive benefits that can be generated... so ways in which leaders' declaration can support that, support the inclusion agenda to ensure greater democratisation of AI resources and access to those resources, these would be key elements that we expect in the leaders' declaration," he explained.

Overall, the India AI Impact Summit 2026 aims to enable global democratisation of AI and bridging the AI divide, support the development of indigenous and local AI solutions, enable development of 'AI for Good solutions' across healthcare, agriculture, governance, and importantly, align global standards and models of AI governance and innovation to the needs of the developing world.

Seven working groups will deliver summit outcomes that demonstrate AI's impact across people, planet, and progress.

These working groups focus on AI for economic growth and social good, inclusion for social empowerment, safe and trusted AI, human capital, science, democratising AI resources and resilience, innovation and efficiency.

India AI Impact Summit 2026 builds on the momentum of previous multilateral initiatives, including Bletchley Park, Seoul, Paris, and Kigali summits.

Other prominent names that are widely expected at the event include French President Emmanuel Macron, Brazilian President Lula da Silva as well as industry bigwigs such as Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, and Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan, sources said.

About 50 global CEO and founders have already confirmed their participation at the upcoming event, Krishnan said, exuding confidence that the list of confirmations would increase substantially post the holiday season. Overall, more than 100 countries are expected to be represented at the summit.

"Many international leaders from countries across the world have also confirmed participation, at the head of state, head of government-level or at a ministerial level... those numbers are also very substantial. We expect 15-20 countries to be represented at the head of state and head of government level, and more than 50 countries at the ministerial level," Krishnan said.

India expects a number of countries from the global south to join the global dialogue this time, including many from Africa and Latin America.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate the mega expo, host a dinner event (likely on February 18); and will be there for the opening ceremony, the leaders plenary, and CEO roundtable on February 19, Krishnan said.

About India's talks with the US to join Pax Silica silicon supply chain block, Krishnan said, "As far as Pax Silica is concerned that is an ongoing process of discussion between India and the US... it takes place in multiple levels... takes place in MEA... at the NSA level.

In addition, there are aspects of that dialogue with which IT ministry is also concerned, that is the technical aspect... so that is an ongoing process," he said. PTI MBI TRB