NEW DELHI: India is set to host one of the most consequential technology gatherings of the decade as the AI Impact Summit kicks off at Bharat Mandapam here from February 16. Marking the first global AI summit to be held in the Global South, the five-day event is expected to bring together world leaders, policymakers, and the biggest names in artificial intelligence under one roof.
The scale of political participation underscores the growing geopolitical weight of artificial intelligence. Seven presidents, two vice-presidents, and nine prime ministers have confirmed their presence, signaling that AI governance and innovation are now at the centre of global diplomacy. Sources said among the presidents are Brazil’s Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, France’s Emmanuel Macron, Estonia’s Alar Karis, Slovakia’s Peter Pellegrini, Sri Lanka’s Anura Kumara Dissanayake, Serbia’s Aleksandar Vucic, and Switzerland’s Guy Parmelin. Their participation reflects a broad cross-continental engagement, spanning Europe, South America, and Asia. Representing vice-presidential leadership will be Guyana’s Bharrat Jagdeo and Seychelles’ Sebastien Pillay.
The summit will also see PMs from nine countries—Armenia’s Nikol Pashinyan, Bhutan’s Tshering Tobgay, Croatia’s Andrej Plenkovic, Finland’s Petteri Orpo, Spain’s Pedro Sánchez, Greece’s Kyriakos Mitsotakis, the Netherlands’ Dick Schoof, Kazakhstan’s Oljas Bektenov, and Mauritius’ Navinchandra Ramgoolam.
Beyond political leadership, CEOs from almost all major AI companies are expected to attend the summit. Confirmed industry leaders include Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, Google DeepMind CEO Demis Hassabis, Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei, and Mistral AI CEO Arthur Mensch.
The summit aims to serve as a common platform for discussions on AI policy, research collaboration, industry standards, safety frameworks and public engagement.