Shirtless Youth Congress protesters barge into India AI Impact Summit; detained

New Delhi: A group of Youth Congress workers entered the India AI Impact Summit venue at Bharat Mandapam on Thursday, some of them shirtless and raising slogans of “Modi is compromised,” briefly disrupting proceedings on the concluding day of the high-profile international event.

According to officials, around 10 protesters gained access to parts of the summit premises and shouted slogans before security personnel intervened and escorted them out.

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A senior police officer said that around 10 people were detained when they were protesting at the AI Summit.

"They were removed immediately and were taken to Tilak Marg police station. No one will be allowed to breach law and order situation," the officer said.

The protesters marched inside Hall No 5, wearing or holding white T-shirts with images of Prime Minister Modi and US President Donald Trump printed on them along with slogans such as "India US Trade Deal", "Epstein Files" and "PM is compromised", soon resulting in a commotion.

The disruption lasted a few minutes, after which the summit proceedings continued, as usual.

The protest took place as the India AI Impact Summit entered its final day, with global leaders, technology executives, startup founders and delegates from multiple countries attending sessions and meetings at Bharat Mandapam.

Security arrangements were reviewed following the incident, and access protocols were tightened for the remaining sessions.

The five-day India AI Impact Summit, held from February 16 to 20 at Bharat Mandapam in New Delhi, has brought together more than 20 heads of state, over 60 ministers and about 500 global AI leaders, along with participation from over 100 countries.

French President Emmanuel Macron, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, Google CEO Sundar Pichai, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and several other global technology leaders and industry heads have been among key participants and speakers at the summit.

Major investment and policy announcements have been made during the summit. Union IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said India is expecting over USD 200 billion in AI-related investments over the next two years across infrastructure, data centres, compute and innovation.

He also unveiled the ‘New Delhi Frontier AI Commitments’, a voluntary framework adopted by leading global and Indian AI companies to promote responsible and collaborative development of advanced artificial intelligence.

Among other outcomes highlighted during the summit were the expansion of India’s AI compute capacity, with plans for 20,000 additional GPUs under the IndiaAI Mission, the development of sovereign AI models, and new partnerships between global technology firms and Indian startups.

The summit, one of the largest AI gatherings globally and the first of its kind hosted in the Global South, is scheduled to conclude on February 20 with discussions on future investments, global cooperation and a shared roadmap for responsible AI development