A cutout of an AI robot is displayed at last year’s Automation Expo in Mumbai, held from August 11-14 2025. The event brings together 2000 exhibitors and industry pioneers focused on industrial automation and sustainability. (Photo: Ashish Vaishnav/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)
To understand the future of AI, businesses should look at not just to boardrooms, but crowded, multilingual, entrepreneurial spaces of the Global South. New Delhi’s AI Summit will reflect that energy and innovation in governance models.
Over the past decade, India has grown progressively more confident in articulating its own vocabulary of technological and economic governance. This confidence has not emerged suddenly, nor has it relied on rhetorical projection. Instead, it reflects a long series of policy choices and quiet assertion: the construction of digital public infrastructure as a new paradigm, a calibrated — rather than reactive — approach to regulation, and a preference for enabling scale before imposing restriction.
The upcoming AI Impact Summit in New Delhi is the latest waypoint in this trajectory, and in many ways, its most consequential yet. India is no longer a peripheral observer to the AI revolution; it is choosing to shape it.
What distinguishes this moment is not that another global conference is being held in New Delhi. India has hosted many. Rather, it is that the world is arriving in New Delhi at a time when consensus on AI governance is fracturing elsewhere. Major power centers continue to navigate the appropriate balance between innovation and caution.
While the United States and China dominate AI investments, collectively capturing over 80 percent of infrastructure spending and foundational model development, the rest of the world faces a stark choice to forge new partnerships and pathways to build its AI competitiveness. The Global South, meanwhile, is searching for frameworks that reflect its developmental realities more than its anxieties. India’s approach fits neatly into this gap.
A Summit Born in the Global South, for the Global South
For the first time in this series of global AI gatherings, the defining discussions will unfold not in London, Seoul, or Paris, but in New Delhi. The symbolism is deliberate. India’s pitch is distinct: AI must be scaled for socio‑economic transformation before it is constrained by premature gatekeeping.
This is no longer merely a competition of technologies — it is a competition of governance templates. India is not attempting to mediate between these poles; rather, it is articulating an additional pathway. One that allows developing economies to scale AI adoption without inheriting regulatory structures built for conditions sharply different from their own.
Unlike Europe’s precautionary framework, shaped by its regulatory traditions or China’s state ‑directed AI model, India advances a philosophy of enable, then scale — one that roots innovation in public infrastructure rather than in private silos. It accepts the need for oversight, but not at the cost of the innovation necessary for socioeconomic transformation. This is consistent with India’s wider foreign policy posture: strategic autonomy without isolation, openness without dependency, and legitimacy derived from broad participation rather than narrow gatekeeping.
This philosophy underpins the IndiaAI Mission, which rests on the principle of “AI for All.” Inclusion here is not just normative — it is competitive. India’s AI mission has been defined by a pathway of strategic diffusion — built on shared compute infrastructure, context and task specific language models, large scale skilling and AI as an enabler of productivity across key sectors. If AI is to raise productivity and living standards across the developing world, it must speak the languages of its people, accommodate local constraints, and integrate with the public digital rails that India has spent a decade building. This emphasis on linguistic and infrastructural inclusion also strengthens India’s ability to collaborate internationally, especially with countries facing similar developmental constraints. One such example is ‘Bhashini’, an open platform hosting 350+ language models across 22 Indian languages. The vast majority of South Asia’s 1.75 billion people don’t speak English. Through such a linguistics-led AI commons approach, India could create a model that legacy AI providers can’t easily accommodate at this juncture.
Beyond Risk: A Shift to Applied AI
The Summit marks a transition from earlier global gatherings dominated by conversations on catastrophic risk and frontier model‑model oversight. While frontier‑risk conversations remain important, the Summit brings balance by foregrounding the developmental urgency shared across much of the Global South.
Across sectors — agriculture, healthcare, logistics, education — AI has already shifted from futurist aspiration to operational necessity. The Summit is likely to highlight this practical orientation, with India increasingly positioning itself as a partner to countries navigating the shift from analogue governance to AI-enabled public services.
If pre-Summit exchanges are any indication, workforce transformation will be a central theme. Alongside this, other key pillars are expected to include responsible AI governance, digital public infrastructure, inclusion and accessibility, and sectoral innovation spanning healthcare, agriculture, and education. Working group discussions continue to focus on topics such as ethical AI frameworks, cross-border collaboration, vernacular technology adoption, and the creation of open, interoperable systems.
These themes reflect India’s commitment to develop scalable and inclusive AI solutions tailored to its developmental needs. Globally, this approach could inspire emerging economies to prioritize capability-building and equitable access over restrictive regulation, encouraging a shift from risk-centric to application-centric AI governance. By proposing frameworks rooted in broad participation and local realities, India may help reshape the international AI discourse, offering a pragmatic blueprint for nations seeking to unlock socio-economic benefits while safeguarding values and rights.
New Delhi’s Larger Message
What ultimately distinguishes the AI Impact Summit is not its guest list or agenda. It is the quiet confidence of a country comfortable proposing a governance model rooted in inclusion, scale, and shared infrastructure (such as the shared compute initiative subsidizing access to GPUs). India is widening the tent, not redrawing its boundaries; it seeks to work alongside varied governance models while championing an approach rooted in participation and scale.
As the AI hype cycle enters a phase defined by application and wider adoption, India is offering a framework that is pragmatic, adaptable, and grounded in lived developmental experience. If the world listens closely in New Delhi, it may realize that the future of AI is being shaped not only in advanced laboratories or boardrooms, but also in the crowded, multilingual, entrepreneurial spaces of the Global South, facilitated by strategic interdependence within a coalition of the willing.
This is India’s AI moment. And it is only just beginning.
This Big Picture analysis is a part of TAG’s special coverage of next week’s AI Impact Summit in New Delhi. It was prepared by Subhodeep Jash and Arpitha Desai. Subhodeep Jash is a senior vice president, and Arpitha Desai is an associate vice president, with TAG’s South Asia practice. Both have played a pivotal role in TAG’s engagement — and its capacity as a knowledge partner — with the AI Impact Summit.
“From their perspective, the LDP had become too moderate under the last two prime ministers,” said Rintaro Nishimura, a Tokyo-based ...
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India’s AI Moment Has Arrived
To understand the future of AI, businesses should look at not just to boardrooms, but crowded, multilingual, entrepreneurial spaces of the Global South. New Delhi’s AI Summit will reflect that energy and innovation in governance models.
Over the past decade, India has grown progressively more confident in articulating its own vocabulary of technological and economic governance. This confidence has not emerged suddenly, nor has it relied on rhetorical projection. Instead, it reflects a long series of policy choices and quiet assertion: the construction of digital public infrastructure as a new paradigm, a calibrated — rather than reactive — approach to regulation, and a preference for enabling scale before imposing restriction.
The upcoming AI Impact Summit in New Delhi is the latest waypoint in this trajectory, and in many ways, its most consequential yet. India is no longer a peripheral observer to the AI revolution; it is choosing to shape it.
What distinguishes this moment is not that another global conference is being held in New Delhi. India has hosted many. Rather, it is that the world is arriving in New Delhi at a time when consensus on AI governance is fracturing elsewhere. Major power centers continue to navigate the appropriate balance between innovation and caution.
While the United States and China dominate AI investments, collectively capturing over 80 percent of infrastructure spending and foundational model development, the rest of the world faces a stark choice to forge new partnerships and pathways to build its AI competitiveness. The Global South, meanwhile, is searching for frameworks that reflect its developmental realities more than its anxieties. India’s approach fits neatly into this gap.
A Summit Born in the Global South, for the Global South
For the first time in this series of global AI gatherings, the defining discussions will unfold not in London, Seoul, or Paris, but in New Delhi. The symbolism is deliberate. India’s pitch is distinct: AI must be scaled for socio‑economic transformation before it is constrained by premature gatekeeping.
This is no longer merely a competition of technologies — it is a competition of governance templates. India is not attempting to mediate between these poles; rather, it is articulating an additional pathway. One that allows developing economies to scale AI adoption without inheriting regulatory structures built for conditions sharply different from their own.
Unlike Europe’s precautionary framework, shaped by its regulatory traditions or China’s state ‑directed AI model, India advances a philosophy of enable, then scale — one that roots innovation in public infrastructure rather than in private silos. It accepts the need for oversight, but not at the cost of the innovation necessary for socioeconomic transformation. This is consistent with India’s wider foreign policy posture: strategic autonomy without isolation, openness without dependency, and legitimacy derived from broad participation rather than narrow gatekeeping.
This philosophy underpins the IndiaAI Mission, which rests on the principle of “AI for All.” Inclusion here is not just normative — it is competitive. India’s AI mission has been defined by a pathway of strategic diffusion — built on shared compute infrastructure, context and task specific language models, large scale skilling and AI as an enabler of productivity across key sectors. If AI is to raise productivity and living standards across the developing world, it must speak the languages of its people, accommodate local constraints, and integrate with the public digital rails that India has spent a decade building. This emphasis on linguistic and infrastructural inclusion also strengthens India’s ability to collaborate internationally, especially with countries facing similar developmental constraints. One such example is ‘Bhashini’, an open platform hosting 350+ language models across 22 Indian languages. The vast majority of South Asia’s 1.75 billion people don’t speak English. Through such a linguistics-led AI commons approach, India could create a model that legacy AI providers can’t easily accommodate at this juncture.
Beyond Risk: A Shift to Applied AI
The Summit marks a transition from earlier global gatherings dominated by conversations on catastrophic risk and frontier model‑model oversight. While frontier‑risk conversations remain important, the Summit brings balance by foregrounding the developmental urgency shared across much of the Global South.
Across sectors — agriculture, healthcare, logistics, education — AI has already shifted from futurist aspiration to operational necessity. The Summit is likely to highlight this practical orientation, with India increasingly positioning itself as a partner to countries navigating the shift from analogue governance to AI-enabled public services.
If pre-Summit exchanges are any indication, workforce transformation will be a central theme. Alongside this, other key pillars are expected to include responsible AI governance, digital public infrastructure, inclusion and accessibility, and sectoral innovation spanning healthcare, agriculture, and education. Working group discussions continue to focus on topics such as ethical AI frameworks, cross-border collaboration, vernacular technology adoption, and the creation of open, interoperable systems.
These themes reflect India’s commitment to develop scalable and inclusive AI solutions tailored to its developmental needs. Globally, this approach could inspire emerging economies to prioritize capability-building and equitable access over restrictive regulation, encouraging a shift from risk-centric to application-centric AI governance. By proposing frameworks rooted in broad participation and local realities, India may help reshape the international AI discourse, offering a pragmatic blueprint for nations seeking to unlock socio-economic benefits while safeguarding values and rights.
New Delhi’s Larger Message
What ultimately distinguishes the AI Impact Summit is not its guest list or agenda. It is the quiet confidence of a country comfortable proposing a governance model rooted in inclusion, scale, and shared infrastructure (such as the shared compute initiative subsidizing access to GPUs). India is widening the tent, not redrawing its boundaries; it seeks to work alongside varied governance models while championing an approach rooted in participation and scale.
As the AI hype cycle enters a phase defined by application and wider adoption, India is offering a framework that is pragmatic, adaptable, and grounded in lived developmental experience. If the world listens closely in New Delhi, it may realize that the future of AI is being shaped not only in advanced laboratories or boardrooms, but also in the crowded, multilingual, entrepreneurial spaces of the Global South, facilitated by strategic interdependence within a coalition of the willing.
This is India’s AI moment. And it is only just beginning.
This Big Picture analysis is a part of TAG’s special coverage of next week’s AI Impact Summit in New Delhi. It was prepared by Subhodeep Jash and Arpitha Desai. Subhodeep Jash is a senior vice president, and Arpitha Desai is an associate vice president, with TAG’s South Asia practice. Both have played a pivotal role in TAG’s engagement — and its capacity as a knowledge partner — with the AI Impact Summit.
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