Washington, January 31 (IANS). India and France have described the upcoming AI Impact Summit in New Delhi as a turning point for global Artificial Intelligence governance. In this conference, special focus will be given to inclusion, development and visible results on the ground.
In a discussion on the sidelines of the CSIS conference in the US, Indian Ambassador to the US Vinay M Kwatra and French Ambassador Laurent Billi said that the conference to be held in New Delhi in February will be a continuation of the earlier global AI conferences. Besides, the needs of the developing countries, i.e. the Global South, will also be given prominence.
Vinay Kwatra said that this is the first time that such a large global AI conference is being organized in a developing country. He said that this is very important, because its purpose is to show how AI can be useful not just for developed countries, but for societies all over the world.
According to Kwatra, India has focused the conference on three main themes – people, land and progress. Its main objective is to make AI accessible to the common people. He said that the idea is that AI should be available to everyone, can be used easily and can work on a large scale.
French Ambassador Billy said that France and India are taking forward the cooperation started from the AI Action Summit held in Paris in the year 2025. That conference took the discussion on AI beyond just rules and regulations and towards its practical use and investment. He said that now the focus is on implementing AI and the conference in Delhi will also have different programs on AI related to sustainable and public interest.
Kwatra said that the emphasis on “Impact” in this conference means that now AI should be implemented beyond mere theoretical talk and its concrete results should be seen. He said that the society will now have to move towards the real use of AI.
There will be a large AI expo in this summit, which will include hundreds of exhibitors. Apart from this, there will also be research related programs, roundtable meetings of big industrialists and CEOs and joint announcement of leaders. Kwatra described it as a full-scale AI conference, which will include all three – research, industry and administration.
Both ambassadors said that one of the objectives of this conference is that the rules related to AI should not be scattered in the world, but each country’s own policy should be respected.
Billy said that after the Paris conference, there have been major investments in the field of AI in France and Europe, especially in computing infrastructure and research. At the same time, Kwatra said that a similar boom is being seen in India, where big global technology companies are investing in AI infrastructure, computing capacity and energy.
According to Kwatra, India’s large population and rapidly increasing use of digital platforms make India an important country to try and implement AI on a large scale.
The AI Impact Summit will take place in New Delhi in February 2026. Earlier such conferences have been held in Britain, South Korea and France.
–IANS
AS/