India to Host AI Impact Summit 2026, Expands National AI Infrastructure

223

India will host the AI Impact Summit in February 2026, marking a major step in its efforts to promote Artificial Intelligence as a tool for public good. The announcement was made in Parliament by Union Electronics and IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, who described the summit as part of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision of using AI to address national challenges across healthcare, education, agriculture, climate, and governance.

The summit will serve as a platform to showcase India’s progress under the IndiaAI Mission, which emphasises privacy, equity, safety, and accountability in AI development. At the heart of this mission is the development of indigenous Large and Small Language Models (LLMs and SLMs) trained on Indian datasets, designed to reflect the country’s linguistic and cultural diversity.

AI Infrastructure, Innovation, and Global Reach

Startups such as Sarvam AI, Soket AI, Gnani AI, and Gan AI are currently working on foundational models tailored to India. These will be open-sourced to enable further innovation across the local ecosystem. To support this, the government is expanding access to GPU infrastructure and strengthening the AIKosh Datasets Platform, which now includes over 1,000 datasets and 208 AI models, including multilingual Text-to-Speech tools.

The IndiaAI mission is also funding 30 AI-based applications in key public interest areas. Globally, ten Indian startups are participating in the IndiaAI Startups Global Programme at Station F and HEC Paris, including companies working on privacy-enhancing and cybersecurity-focused AI.

To ensure responsible AI development, the government has established the IndiaAI Safety Institute, which leads research in areas like AI bias mitigation, machine unlearning, and digital watermarking. These efforts are supported by a robust legal framework including the Digital Personal Data Protection Act (2023), the IT Act (2000), and the IT Rules (2021).

India’s integrated techno-legal approach, combining regulatory oversight with government-funded R&D, aims to ensure that AI remains safe, ethical, and inclusive. Hosting the 2026 summit is expected to further strengthen India’s leadership in global AI governance and innovation.