New Delhi, February 20: The India-AI Impact Summit 2026 has attracted delegations and experts from various countries to India. This successful summit has garnered congratulations from attendees. Canada’s Minister of Artificial Intelligence and Digital Innovation, Evan Solomon, emphasized that AI is for everyone. He noted the establishment of a remarkable new partnership between Canada and India.
Solomon stated, “This has been a tremendous AI summit. Canada and India have truly strengthened their partnership, and India has hosted the first summit for the Global South. This demonstrates that AI is meant for all. Our Prime Minister will meet with Prime Minister Modi in two weeks, and we are looking forward to it. We have made significant investments.”
Carmichael Whitley, COO of DataDotOrg, remarked, “Hearing from various speakers and seeing many young people at the event was truly eye-opening regarding what is possible from India and our visions for AI in the future.”
Verena Kontschieder, CEO of OpenData.CH in Switzerland, expressed, “This experience has illustrated what the next chapter of AI will look like. There has been extensive discussion about safe and responsible AI, which is my field, and I am obviously very pleased. My biggest question, which I am also working on, is how we can implement the responsible AI practices that we have debated for the past decade.”
Soumya Swaminathan, former Deputy Director-General of WHO, highlighted the lack of specialists in India and other regions, such as Africa. “You may not have radiologists, psychiatrists, or pathologists. AI offers a straightforward solution through image or pattern recognition. Reading X-rays and pathology slides can be done effectively if AI algorithms are trained on good datasets. These applications are already being used on a large scale. I recommend conducting clinical trials for new AI products, similar to how we introduce new drugs or vaccines.”
She further stated that new AI products should not be rolled out to the public without assessing their efficacy and safety. “This should be part of the regulatory pathway. There is a question about the democratization of AI; it should be accessible to all. It is crucial to ensure that the government establishes standards, benchmarks, rules, and governance frameworks. This should not be left solely to corporations. Especially for India, it is vital that the use of AI serves the public good.”
Brazil’s Ambassador to India, Kenneth Felix Hajinski da Nobrega, noted, “Lula has arrived in India with the largest delegation ever, including over 11 cabinet ministers and more than 300 businessmen, among them 50 CEOs. This is taking bilateral relations to a historically new level, and there is a strong personal rapport between Prime Minister Modi and Lula. They are not just colleagues but have become friends.”
He added, “This is a crucial digital partnership in AI, defense, agriculture, energy, and other areas. Health is also essential. This summit is historic for the Global South, and Prime Minister Modi is genuinely trying to bring the Global South into this vital new wave of technology, which is AI, that will change our lives. India is certainly becoming a new hub for AI.”
Tom Johnstone, CBE and Chairman of Combiint, stated, “Yes, I am representing Sweden here, but I am also representing a company called Combiint, which focuses on digital and AI work and aims to bring it into the industry.”
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