The India AI Impact Summit 2026, which was inaugurated by the prime minister and has brought together technology entities, politicians and businesses, among others, signifies two important global developments. Around the world, Artificial Intelligence has now been transformed into a public good. This should not come as a surprise. AI, perhaps the most consequential technological breakthrough in recent times, has the potential of broadening the horizons of diverse fields such as science, medicine, education, agriculture, climate research, military technology, governance, creative fields and so on. But a public good need not be an egalitarian resource: the tools that power AI, from data to computational infrastructure, are not evenly distributed across nations. This has, in turn, led to disparities that are now informing — shifting — modern strategic ties. For instance, almost 90% of AI patents originate in the United States of America, Europe and China. The Global South is quite a few steps behind. Some data points pertaining to India are illustrative in this context. India, despite its successes in the software industry and its status as a leading, services-led technology entity, has been miserly when it comes to spending on research and development. In 2023, Huawei, the Chinese multinational firm, spent almost 23 billion dollars in R&D: the sum was higher than the combined spending in R&D by the public and the private sectors in this country. Moreover, India faces stiff challenges in the form of data quality, safety and interoperability: these could be subsequent restraints holding the country back in the global AI race.
What must also be remembered is that AI is a developing technology with numerous rough edges. The spectre of human job displacement with the rise of AI is merely one challenge. The scope of AI’s weaponisation — the technology is already being used to foment social division, hate, invade privacy or impersonate individuals— is already making its presence felt in many societies. Apart from imparting skills to harness the technology, there is an equally urgent need to put in place legal, digital and public protective frameworks to tackle AI when it goes rogue. India, where data are inexpensive but data literacy seemingly expendable, has a lot of ground to cover in this respect too. The AI Summit should be a platform for the world to deliberate on AI’s revolutionary potential but also the technology’s regulatory needs. India must use its heft and voice to speak up for AI’s democratisation, including other tests.