Global South at the heart of AI future
As the AI Impact Summit 2026 opened in New Delhi, global attention is focused on the city. For the first time, the future of artificial intelligence is being debated in the Global South. Artificial intelligence has taken the world by storm. It is not just another technology with a limited scope but a revolution that will define the course of human development. Its impact can be compared to the impact of the steam engine in the industrial world or the invention of the wheel that shaped human mobility. It is the most significant development to have emerged in the digital age. Whoever owns it and uses it would be far ahead of others, and this applies to individuals as well as nations. So far, all technical innovations have come from the West. From the Industrial Revolution to the Information Technology age, the West has led the world through its technological innovations, maintaining almost unchallenged dominance over the world. Once again, artificial intelligence is coming from Silicon Valley, which would again make the world dependent upon the Western world. In this context, the New Delhi AI Impact Summit is all about opportunity and inclusivity. For the first time, India and China are inching closer to the West in AI technology; the Summit would indeed go a long way in galvanising Asian nations to take a leap.
As New Delhi hosts the AI Impact Summit 2026 from February 16-20, India is not merely convening a technology conference; it is setting the moral and strategic direction for the world’s most powerful new force. The United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres captured this perfectly when he described India as a “very successful emerging economy” and the right place to host a summit that ensures artificial intelligence serves “everybody, everywhere.”
This is the first-ever global AI summit in the Global South, and that is historic. Guterres’s warning that AI must not become the privilege of the US, China, or a few developed economies underlines why Delhi matters. India, with a vast pool of IT professionals, can make a difference and channelise AI-driven technologies towards sectors where they are most needed - healthcare, agriculture, education, climate resilience, and inclusive growth. All technologies are defined by their end use. Like a knife that can bleed a person to death or save him on an operating table, AI would need to be put to the best use of humanity rather than be used to develop missiles and defence equipment that are more deadly. The summit’s core themes — People, Planet, and Progress — speak directly to India’s strengths. With its digital public infrastructure, from Aadhaar to UPI, India has already demonstrated how technology can be scaled for social good. Now, by hosting world leaders such as Emmanuel Macron and Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, alongside tech pioneers like Sundar Pichai and Shantanu Narayen, India is bridging geopolitics with innovation. The AI summit can help shape global standards on ethical AI, data protection, algorithmic bias, and workforce transitions — areas where unregulated AI could deepen inequality. The future of AI cannot be written by a few — it must be co-authored by humanity for the common good, else it is not worth it!
