New Delhi, February 18 (IANS). Experts and companies from across the country and the world are participating in the five-day ‘India AI Impact Summit 2026’ organized in the national capital and are sharing their contribution in this field by showcasing their solutions related to AI.
On the third day of the summit, policy makers, industry and startup representatives from India and abroad participated and shared their vision towards taking AI to the common people. The main focus of the summit was that Artificial Intelligence should not be limited only to big companies, but its benefits should reach every section of the society.
Meanwhile, Vishal Kumar Dev, Additional Chief Secretary, Department of Energy, Electronics and IT, Government of Odisha, while talking to news agency IANS, said that this summit is a great initiative towards establishing India as a leading country in the field of ‘AI for Common Good’. He said that democratization of AI resources is very important so that every section of the society can take advantage of it.
He informed that Odisha is the first state in the country to have its own dedicated AI policy, which is in line with the National AI Policy. The state has given priority to sectors like health, education, agriculture and disaster management. Disaster management is a particularly important area for Odisha.
Dev said that AI should be accessible and affordable for everyone. This should not be limited to only selected institutions. In a big country like India, the importance of local languages is very high. For this reason, the Odisha government is working on a large scale to prepare the data set of Odia language. He further informed that recently the state has signed an MoU to set up a Sovereign AI facility in Odisha with an investment of $2.3 billion.
Furthermore, Manoj Verma, Director, Lyra India, while speaking to IANS, said that his company is a French multinational payment solutions company and has been operating in India for the last 18 years. He said that AI will make digital payments more fast, secure and effective.
He said that the use of digital payments has increased rapidly in India, but there is still a need for awareness and adoption in remote areas. With the help of AI, this process will become faster. Additionally, AI will provide an additional security layer, reducing fraud. He said that Lyra is running ‘Digital Payment Mitra’ program, under which students are being made aware about the correct use and precautions of digital payment by visiting colleges and universities.
At the same time, Techshlok CEO Ayush Jain said that his company designs hardware on which AI models can be run. He said that his team has developed a $22 Linux computer on which AI models can run easily.
This allows companies to install edge AI on indigenous hardware without relying on expensive foreign boards like Nvidia or Raspberry Pi. He said that due to the efforts of the government, a lot of positive changes and better management were seen on the third day of the summit.
Dr Suvidutt Sundaram, co-founder and director of Overrule.AI, said his startup is providing AI-based assistance to Supreme Court lawyers in drafting, research and translation. The company uses a knowledge base based on Supreme Court and High Court decisions. He said that in the coming years they will expand their services across the country and then globally.
Along with this, Akash Sinha, CEO of Omnipresent Robot Tech, while talking to IANS said that it is a matter of pride to organize AI Summit in India on such a large scale. He said that the present government is giving a lot of support to startups under ‘Made in India’ and ‘Make for India’.
He acknowledged that AI will change the nature of many jobs. Some entry level jobs may be affected, but there will be a huge increase in productivity. He appealed to the youth to make themselves AI literate and develop expertise in a particular field. He also said that it is necessary to include strong security features and encryption in AI and robotics, so that the risk of hacking can be reduced.
Dr. Hasan Baig of University of East London said that students from many countries including India study in his university. He told that they are working on new technologies by adding AI in fields like engineering, medical and clean energy.
He further said that they are researching how to further improve future energy systems by combining renewable energy and AI. In this direction, he is working with IIT Delhi and IIT Madras on a project named ‘Energize’, the objective of which is to prepare the coming generation for new technologies.
–IANS
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