PM Modi to inaugurate India AI Affect Expo on February 16; ; 20 leaders, Pichai, Altman amongst others anticipated to headline Summit over the week

The occasion is being hosted from February 16 to twenty on the Bharat Mandapam complicated in Delhi the place the G-20 Summit was hosted first in 2023. It marks the 4^th AI Summit after Summits within the U.Okay., South Korea and France. Officers stated it will be showcased as the primary time the Summit on the transformative impact and challenges from AI is hosted in a International South nation.

“India has constantly championed the voice of growing economies in digital coverage boards. The Summit will push for equitable entry to AI assets and honest rule-making,” a senior authorities official briefing journalists concerning the Summit stated right here. In contrast to developed international locations, India was not looking for to construct regulatory frameworks, however was focusing the Summit on a “human-centric” strategy, for the “financial good” of all, the official added.

2.5 lakh guests anticipated

In accordance with a press release issued by the Prime Minister’s Workplace on Sunday, the AI Affect occasion will function greater than 3,000 audio system over 500 classes and host greater than 300 exhibitions and reside demonstrations of AI know-how and startups, that are “structured throughout three thematic chakras — Folks, Planet and Progress”. The federal government hopes to draw greater than 2.5 lakh guests to the occasion, the assertion stated.

After the Expo inauguration on Monday, the Summit will see an “all-women” hackathon on Tuesday in Delhi. In the meantime, PM Modi and French President Emmanuel Macron will maintain bilateral talks in Mumbai on February 17. On February 18, Mr. Modi will host a dinner banquet for the dignitaries after which chair a leaders’ summit adopted by a Tech-CEOs occasion on February 19. Brazil President Lula, who will even maintain bilateral talks with PM Modi, is accompanied by a big AI officers and tech firm delegation and can host a whole session on February 20.

The heads of 18 different international locations attending on the highest ranges vary from European international locations, together with Switzerland, Spain, Serbia, Slovakia, Croatia, Estonia, Netherlands, Finland and Greece, to Mauritius, Bhutan and Sri Lanka within the neighbourhood and Kazakhstan, two international locations from South America (Bolivia and Guyana) and one from Africa (Seychelles), an inventory supplied by the Exterior Affairs Ministry stated.

The crown princes of Liechtenstein and the UAE will even attend as heads of their delegations as will some distinguished former leaders comparable to former British Prime Ministers Tony Blair and Rishi Sunak. Ministerial delegations from greater than 45 international locations would take part within the Summit, officers stated. U.N. Secretary Common Antonio Guterres, whose tenure ends this yr, will even attend the Summit. Officers stated that massive tech leaders comparable to Google’s Sundar Pichai and Open AI CEO Sam Altman will “headline” classes as will Demis Hassabis (CEO of DeepMind Applied sciences), Dario Amodei (Anthropic CEO) and Brad Smith (Microsoft president). NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang, who was to be a key speaker, pulled out on Saturday “as a consequence of unexpected circumstances”, whereas Microsoft founder Invoice Gates, who’s on the centre of allegations over his hyperlinks with American businessman and convicted intercourse offender Jeffery Epstein, is anticipated to attend. When requested, officers didn’t verify what his position within the occasion can be.

On Monday (February 16, 2026), Mr. Gates might be in Andhra Pradesh for a collection of conferences with Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu and others to debate digital applied sciences and well being improvement points. Reacting to a poster of Mr. Gates on the AI Summit, Opposition MP Priyanka Chaturvedi known as the invitation to him “shameful” and has requested the federal government to not “platform and promote” him.