The India AI Impact Summit 2026 marks an ambitious attempt to showcase India’s talent base and digital infrastructure. The prime minister’s vision for the Summit repeatedly highlighted the scale of the country’s digital public infrastructure and talent pool as foundations for an AI-driven future that balances innovation with responsibility. Several announcements — investment pledges from major corporations and collaborations between global AI firms and Indian technology companies — reinforce this ambition. Yet the event has been eclipsed somewhat by organisational blemishes. Overcrowding, long queues, sudden venue closures, inadequate access to food and water, and confusion over entry protocols have created frustration among delegates and exhibitors, both national and international. Such lapses are surprising — embarrassing — given India’s expertise in hosting events of stature. Even more shameful has been the episode involving Galgotias University. A Chinese-made robotic dog was presented as an institutional innovation before being publicly identified as a commercially available foreign product. The incident exposed weaknesses in scrutiny and accountability, prompting uncomfortable questions about how such an oversight passed through multiple layers of checking.
Galgotias University’s blooper may be dismissed as an exception. But it may be suggestive of a deeper malady. There seems to be a gap between India’s ambitions and capacities. India’s position as an AI power or market does not depend on cutting-edge technology, infrastructure or personnel expertise alone. Nations seeking to become leaders in this technology must build credibility. This credibility is likely to be compromised if an institution of higher education is allowed to play fast and loose. Public messaging plays a significant role in making conferences a success. The embarrassment caused by a dubious claim by an educational institution has certainly blemished India’s image. Instead of brushing it under the carpet, lessons must be learnt from this slip and accountability demanded for the lapses. This is all the more necessary since summits such as these are geostrategic opportunities where optics must be consistent with foundational accomplishments.