From PM Modi To Mukesh Ambani, Macron, Pichai And Altman: India’s AI Rise Hits The Summit

Last Updated:February 19, 2026, 14:41 IST

World leaders & industry titans framed the summit as a moment where geopolitical ambition, digital scale & capital commitment converged around India’s bid to become AI superpower.

Thursday marked the fourth—and most high-profile—day of the AI Impact Summit 2026 being held at Bharat Mandapam in New Delhi as global leaders such as United Nations chief Antonio Guterres and French President Emmanuel Macron graced the occasion, discussing the breakneck rise of a technology that’s igniting both investor excitement and serious unease in equal measure.

The stellar line-up included Prime Minister Narendra Modi; Reliance Chairman Mukesh Ambani; Sunil Bharti Mittal, Founder and Chairman, Bharti Enterprises; Shantanu Narayen, Chairman and CEO, Adobe; Dario Amodei, CEO, Anthropic; Rishad Premji, Executive Chairman, Wipro; and Sam Altman, CEO, OpenAI.

As PM Modi positioned India as a future global AI hub built on inclusion, ethics and “AI for all," urging that the technology empower humanity rather than concentrate power, Pichai described India as being on an “extraordinary trajectory" in AI adoption and talent and Ambani underscored massive private-sector investment bets on India’s AI future.

Here’s a look at who said what at the summit:

PM Narendra Modi: Unveiling his human-centric ‘MANAV’ vision for Artificial Intelligence at the AI Impact Summit, Prime Minister Narendra Modi mentioned that the future of AI must be moral, sovereign and valid.

Decoding MANAV, the prime minister said the Hindi word for “human" is also an acronym that captures India’s five core principles for AI: Moral and ethical systems, Accountable governance, National sovereignty (especially data rights), Accessible and inclusive technology, and Valid, legitimate AI systems that people can trust.

Emphasising the need to place people at the heart of technological transformation, Modi called for making “skilling, reskilling, and lifelong learning a mass movement" to prepare societies for the rapidly evolving digital era.

“Artificial intelligence marks a transformative chapter in human history. India is not just a part of the AI revolution, but is leading and shaping it," he said in the presence of world leaders and CEOs of leading companies.

The prime minister also described AI as a historic transformation comparable to the invention of wireless communication. “When signals were first transmitted wirelessly, no one imagined that the entire world would one day be connected in real time. Artificial Intelligence is such a transformation of human history. What we are seeing today, what we are predicting, is just the beginning of its impact."

India sees the future in AI, said the prime minister, as he said he believes that any model that succeeds in India’s scale and diversity can be deployed anywhere in the world.

Mukesh Ambani: The Chairman and Managing Director of Reliance Industries Limited likened Artificial Intelligence to Akshay Patra from the Mahabharat, saying it was not just another technology.

“Artificial Intelligence is not just another technology. For the first time, humans are creating human-like systems that can learn, speak, analyse, move, and produce autonomously. AI is the mantra that powers every yantra or every machine and system to work faster, better, and smarter. I see AI as a modern-day Akshay Patra, the legendary vessel in the Mahabharat that provided endless nourishment to all. Likewise, AI offers limitless augmentation in knowledge, efficiency, and productivity."

Ambani said Reliance Jio will invest Rs 10 lakh crore over the next seven years towards AI, adding that Jio will also make AI widely affordable like it had done for internet data. “Jio has already started building AI applications for India’s most pressing challenges in inclusive development," he said.

Asked about AI snatching jobs, Ambani sounded positive, saying the new technology will not eliminate jobs but create high-skill employment opportunities. “My confidence is validated by an undeniable truth. In the coming decades, no country in the world can match India’s strength in demography, democracy, development, digital infrastructure, data generation, AI harvest. India is the world’s largest mobile data consumer. Nearly 1 billion internet users, data costs among the lowest globally. And in terms of quality, there is no difference between Delhi and the remotest Indian village," he said.

“Second, Aadhaar, 1.4 billion digital IDs. Third, UPI processes over 12 billion transactions monthly. Fourth, India ranks among the top three startup ecosystems with 100,000 startups and 100 plus unicorns. Fifth, India’s secure and inclusive digital public infrastructure stack is now being adopted by countries around the globe," he added, noting that social relevance, not momentary craze, should drive AI growth in India.

Antonio Guterres: The UN Secretary General, while praising the summit, cautioned that the future of Artificial Intelligence cannot be decided by a handful of countries or a few billionaires. “Done right, AI can advance sustainable development goals, accelerate breakthroughs in medicine, expand learning opportunities, strengthen food security, bolster climate action and disaster preparedness and improve access to vital public services," he said, adding: “But it can also deepen inequality, amplify bias and fuel harm. As AI’s energy and water demand soar, data centres and supply chains must switch to clean power."

Guterres went on to say: “The meeting in India has special meaning. It brings this conversation closer to the realities shaping much of the world. Because the future of AI cannot be decided by a handful of countries or left to the whims of a few billionaires."

Emmanuel Macron: Hailing India’s role in having “built what no other country can", the French President shared an example as he addressed the summit, saying: “10 years ago, a street vendor in Mumbai could not open a bank account. No address, no papers, no access… but today that same vendor accepts payments on his phone. That is not a technology story. That is a civilisational story."

The President hailed India’s progress in adopting and democratising AI know-how, saying: “India built something no other country in the world can… a digital identity for 1.4 billion people, a payment system that now processes 20 billion transactions every month, a health infrastructure that has issued 500 million digital health IDs."

As PM Modi sat in the audience, Macron said: “Here are the results. They call it the India Stack Open Interoperable Sovereign. That is what this summit is about. We are clearly at the beginning of a huge acceleration, and you [PM Modi] perfectly described it during your interventions…" Saying India had proved the world wrong, Macron added: “Ten years ago, the world said 1.4 billion people could not be brought into the digital economy. India proved them wrong. And today, some say AI is a game only the biggest can play…"

The French President added: “India and France, with Europe and our partners, those who believe in our approach… might have a different way… the future of AI will be built by those who combine innovation and responsibility, technology with humanity, and India and France will help shape this future."

Dario Amodei: The chief executive of the US artificial intelligence company Anthropic termed the “energy and ambition in this room and across India incredible" and said: “I’ve been spending the last few days meeting with Indian builders and enterprises, and the energy to build together here is palpable, unlike anywhere else".

Pointing to the company’s growing focus on India, he revealed that Anthropic has launched a new office in Bengaluru and named veteran business leader Irena Ghose, who brings three decades of experience building companies in India, as managing director of Anthropic India. He added that the company has secured fresh partnerships with leading Indian firms, including Infosys.

Amodei argued that society is already far down the path where just a few years are left before AI systems outperform the vast majority of people in most areas of thinking and expertise.

“There are only a small number of years for AI models to surpass the cognitive capabilities of most humans for most things. We’re increasingly close to what I’ve called a country of geniuses in a data centre, a set of AI agents that are more capable than most humans at most things and can coordinate at superhuman speed," he said.

Sam Altman: The OpenAI CEO praised India’s rapid adoption of Artificial Intelligence, saying: “It is amazing to be here, obviously the work happening in India and the adoption of AI is leading the world, and I can’t wait to see what goes next. This will be one of the biggest markets for AI in the world, and I think India will have a huge amount of influence."

Describing India as a potential “full-stack AI leader", he announced plans to expand the company’s footprint in the country. Linking AI’s evolution to India’s democratic context, Altman said, “The world’s largest democracy is well positioned to lead AI—not just to build it, but to shape it and decide what our future is going to look like."

He noted that many current roles, particularly those driven by cognitive repetition, data processing, and even parts of software development will be reshaped as AI systems become more capable. “More than 100 million people in India use ChatGPT every week, and more than a third of them are students." India, he added, is also the fastest-growing market globally for OpenAI.

Sundar Pichai: Praising India’s transformation, the Alphabet CEO said he is always struck by the pace of change in the country. Pichai, contrasting the change that Andhra Pradesh has undergone, said he once travelled by train through Visakhapatnam. “Today, Google is building a full-stack AI hub in the same city as part of its $15 billion infrastructure investment in India," he said. Pichai added it was this technology that “can improve lives at once on a generation scale and can improve billions of lives with AI".

The Alphabet top boss, however, issued a warning regarding equitable access to technology, warning that the current digital divide must not become an “AI divide".

Announcing the “America-India Connect" initiative, Pichai described it as a comprehensive digital infrastructure and AI investment plan that could potentially reshape the future of global tech collaborations and propel India’s position in the global digital economy. The new initiative is an extension of Google’s earlier announced $15 billion five-year AI investment in India, which was focused on a mega AI hub in Visakhapatnam.

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