India Invites UN to IndiaAI Impact Summit for Sustainable AI Development
India has formally invited all United Nations member states to participate in the upcoming IndiaAI Impact Summit in New Delhi, positioning the event as a multilateral platform to advance responsible artificial intelligence for sustainable development. The invitation was extended at the United Nations General Assembly during the high-level review of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS+20) in New York, where India underlined its intention to convene governments, international organisations, industry and civil society to translate AI principles into measurable public impact.[1][2]
Announcement at the WSIS+20 High-Level Meeting
The invitation was delivered by Union Minister of State for Commerce and Industry and Electronics and Information Technology, Jitin Prasada, who represented India at the WSIS+20 overall review meeting at the UN General Assembly on 16 December 2025 in New York.[1][2] The WSIS+20 process is reviewing two decades of efforts to harness information and communication technologies for inclusive development and to outline priority areas for the coming years.[1]
In India’s national statement, the Minister described the country’s digital transformation as a “lived experience at population scale” enabled by digital public infrastructure built as a public good, and then linked this trajectory to the next phase of emerging technologies, particularly artificial intelligence.[1] He stressed that AI will be central to sustainable development, especially when guided by shared values such as safety, inclusion and human dignity.[1]
While outlining India’s domestic initiatives under the IndiaAI Mission, including expansion of national compute capacity, development of AI datasets through the AI Kosh platform and multilingual access tools such as Bhashini, the Minister framed the IndiaAI Impact Summit as a logical extension of India’s approach to digital public goods and global cooperation.[1] He reaffirmed India’s commitment to sharing tools, knowledge and capacity with partner countries and reiterated the broader ethos of “One Earth, One Family, One Future” in the digital domain.[1]
Details of the IndiaAI Impact Summit
The IndiaAI Impact Summit is scheduled to be held in New Delhi in February 2026 and is being designed as a solution-focused forum that moves the global AI discussion from broad principles to operational impact. In a related event at the United Nations titled “From Action to Impact – A Curtain Raiser to the AI Impact Summit”, also addressed by Jitin Prasada, the government confirmed that the main summit will be organised in New Delhi from 19 to 20 February 2026 with international participation.[3][7][8]
The curtain raiser session in New York was jointly organised by India and France and brought together senior representatives from the French government, the United Nations, UNESCO, the International Telecommunication Union and global AI practitioners.[3][7][8] This format underlined the intention of India and its partners to shape the summit as a cooperative initiative anchored in multilateral institutions and international expertise.
During this session, the Minister announced that the summit’s agenda will be structured around three core sutras or guiding pillars: People, Planet and Progress.[3][7][8] These pillars will be operationalised through seven thematic working groups, referred to as Chakras, which will organise deliberations and outputs across different dimensions of AI for public good.[3][7][8]
Thematic Focus: Chakras of the Summit
According to the government’s outline, the seven Chakras of the IndiaAI Impact Summit 2026 will cover the following themes:[3][7][8]
- Human Capital
- Inclusion for Social Empowerment
- Safe and Trusted AI
- Resilience
- Innovation and Efficiency
- Science and Democratizing AI Resources
- AI for Economic Growth and Social Good
Each of these working groups is expected to examine specific policy, technical and institutional questions linked to responsible AI deployment. Human Capital will focus on skills, workforce readiness and capacity building. Inclusion for Social Empowerment will likely address practices to ensure access for marginalised communities, persons with disabilities, and low-resource settings. Safe and Trusted AI will concentrate on guardrails, governance frameworks, ethical norms and mechanisms to build public trust.
The Resilience track is expected to consider the robustness of AI systems, critical infrastructure safeguards and continuity of essential services, especially in the context of climate risks and disasters. Innovation and Efficiency will look at use cases that improve productivity, service delivery and administrative efficiency. The combined focus on Science and Democratizing AI Resources is intended to highlight open models, shared datasets, research collaboration and computing access, particularly for the Global South. AI for Economic Growth and Social Good will concentrate on concrete applications that support livelihoods, micro and small enterprises, public health, agriculture, education and other development priorities.[3][7][8]
Jitin Prasada underlined that the success of the summit must ultimately be measured in terms of lives improved and real-world outcomes rather than the number of declarations or communiqués adopted.[3][7][8] This emphasis signals a preference for practical tools, frameworks and collaborations that member states and stakeholders can implement following the summit.
Invitation to UN Member States and Global Stakeholders
During his address at the WSIS+20 high-level meeting, the Minister extended an open invitation to all UN member states to attend and participate in the IndiaAI Impact Summit. He described the event as being guided by the principle “Sarvajan Hitay, Sarvajan Sukhay” (Welfare of All, Happiness for All), aligning the summit’s mandate with broad social objectives.[1][2]
He also invited all Member States to the IndiaAI Impact Summit in February 2026, guided by the principle “Sarvajan Hitay, Sarvajan Sukhay” — Welfare of All, Happiness for All.[1][2]
In the separate curtain raiser event, the Minister extended this invitation not only to governments but also to industry, researchers, civil society organisations and multilateral agencies.[3][7][8] He noted that inclusive participation would be essential to ensure that the summit reflects diverse perspectives and results in outcomes that are workable across different regulatory, economic and technological contexts.
While announcing the AI Impact Summit to be held in New Delhi from 19–20 February 2026, Shri Prasada stated that the Summit will prioritise the translation of vision into execution, and concluded by inviting governments, industry, researchers, civil society and international organisations to participate, emphasising that the success of the Summit must be measured by the lives it improves rather than by the number of declarations it produces.[3][7][8]
The presence at the curtain raiser of senior officials from the United Nations Secretariat, UNDP, UNESCO and ITU signalled early multilateral engagement with the summit’s objectives.[3][7][8] Their participation suggests that issues such as AI governance, ethical norms, capacity building and digital inclusion could be discussed in continuity with existing UN-led processes and frameworks.
Context within India’s AI and Digital Public Infrastructure Strategy
The IndiaAI Impact Summit is being convened against the backdrop of India’s domestic initiatives in AI and digital public infrastructure, many of which have already been presented in multilateral forums as models for inclusive digital transformation.[1] In his WSIS+20 statement, Jitin Prasada highlighted that India’s digital public infrastructure is built as open, interoperable, secure and affordable public goods, including systems for digital identity, instant payments, digital documentation, telemedicine, online education and grievance redressal.[1]
He also referred to India’s launch of the Global Digital Public Infrastructure Repository during its G20 Presidency, which aims to make reusable building blocks available to other countries.[1] The IndiaAI Mission, led by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, is expanding national compute capacity, setting up repositories of reusable datasets via AI Kosh, and driving projects such as Bhashini for AI-enabled real-time translation in Indian languages.[1]
The IndiaAI Impact Summit is expected to build on these experiences by positioning India’s digital infrastructure as both a reference model and a collaborative platform. For instance, the national call for case studies on AI in education, launched by the IndiaAI Mission in partnership with Central Square Foundation and EkStep Foundation, explicitly links its outputs to the summit. A compendium of scalable, ethical and inclusive AI applications in education from emerging and developing economies is scheduled to be unveiled at the IndiaAI Impact Summit 2026 at Bharat Mandapam in New Delhi between 16 and 20 February 2026.[5]
The call for use cases seeks evidence-based projects that have demonstrably improved learning outcomes, supported teachers or expanded access to quality education through AI in a responsible manner.[5] Shortlisted solutions will be featured in the casebook and given an opportunity to be showcased before global policymakers, educators and technology innovators at the summit, thereby integrating field-level experiences into global policy discussions.[5]
Responsible AI and Sustainable Development: Policy Emphasis
In multiple international interventions, India has stressed that AI must advance development and inclusion while upholding safety, privacy, human rights and sustainability. At the WSIS+20 meeting, Jitin Prasada described trust as the “bedrock of the digital future” and called for balancing innovation with these safeguards.[1] He also emphasised the need for resilient semiconductor and electronics supply chains as foundational to AI at scale.[1]
India’s focus on responsible AI encompasses domestic regulatory and institutional measures as well as international cooperation. Earlier national initiatives, such as the Global India AI Summit held in New Delhi in July 2024, concentrated on the responsible development, deployment and adoption of AI and reinforced the government’s commitment to accountability and transparency in AI systems.[6] The forthcoming IndiaAI Impact Summit appears to be the next stage in this sequence, with an expanded emphasis on measurable social outcomes and global collaboration.
The link to sustainable development is central to this agenda. By aligning the summit with WSIS+20 and the broader UN development framework, India has signalled that AI policy discussions will be framed in terms of their contribution to the Sustainable Development Goals, including poverty reduction, health, education, climate resilience and inclusive economic growth. The three sutras of People, Planet and Progress are designed to keep human development, environmental sustainability and economic advancement in balance within summit deliberations.[3][7][8]
Potential Administrative and Public Impact
The IndiaAI Impact Summit, with participation from UN member states and global stakeholders, is expected to influence administrative practice and public service delivery in several ways.
Standard-setting and Governance Frameworks
Discussions on safe and trusted AI, resilience and democratized AI resources may contribute to emerging norms on AI governance. Outcomes could inform domestic guidelines, risk management frameworks and procurement standards for AI systems in public administration. For countries seeking to introduce AI into government services, the summit’s outputs may offer reference models on transparency, accountability, auditability and citizen protections.
Given the presence of UN agencies, there is also potential for convergence with existing international efforts on AI ethics, data protection, digital human rights and technology-facilitated inclusion. This could help public authorities align national rules with broader multilateral principles while retaining flexibility for local contexts.
Capacity Building and Skills Development
The Human Capital Chakra is expected to focus on skills and institutional capabilities required for responsible AI adoption. For public sector entities, this may translate into guidance on building multidisciplinary teams, reskilling civil servants, updating training curricula and fostering collaboration between government, academia and industry.
Outcomes could include toolkits or model programmes for public servants working in areas such as health, agriculture, urban planning, justice and social protection, where AI applications are growing. National and subnational governments may draw on these materials to design AI-related capacity-building initiatives tailored to their administrative needs.
Inclusive and Accessible Digital Services
The Inclusion for Social Empowerment Chakra is likely to prioritise use cases that extend services to underserved populations, including rural communities, women, persons with disabilities and linguistic minorities. This reflects India’s own experience with digital public infrastructure reaching diverse geographies and income groups.[1]
Through the summit, governments could share and access replicable approaches for AI-enabled grievance redressal, telemedicine, social security targeting, agricultural advisory services and inclusive education. This may help agencies adopt AI tools that strengthen last-mile delivery while maintaining fairness and non-discrimination.
Evidence-based Use Cases and Sectoral Applications
Sector-specific initiatives linked to the summit, such as the global casebook on AI in education, highlight an evidence-based orientation. By curating use cases that demonstrate clear educational outcomes, ethical safeguards and scalability, the summit may encourage public authorities to prioritise tested solutions over experimental or high-risk deployments.[5]
Similar compendiums or showcases in health, agriculture, climate resilience or urban management could provide administrators with concrete examples, procurement benchmarks and implementation lessons. This can support more informed decision-making when governments consider integrating AI into mission-mode programmes.
International Cooperation and Resource Sharing
India’s emphasis on digital public goods and the Global Digital Public Infrastructure Repository suggests that the summit may facilitate cooperative projects where countries adapt open tools, platforms or reference architectures to their local needs.[1] In practice, this might include shared AI models for public health surveillance, open datasets for climate risk assessment, or reusable modules for citizen service platforms.
For least developed and low-income countries, multilateral support frameworks discussed at the summit may help bridge gaps in compute resources, connectivity, talent and institutional capacity. International organisations present at the summit could play a role in coordinating technical assistance, financing and knowledge exchange programmes.
Next Steps Ahead of the Summit
In the run-up to February 2026, preparatory activities are underway across multiple tracks. The IndiaAI Mission and partner organisations are collating use cases, designing thematic sessions and engaging with domestic and international stakeholders.[4][5] Emerging initiatives, including national-level collaborations such as those between the IndiaAI Mission and state governments to promote inclusive AI ecosystems, are expected to feed into summit discussions as examples of subnational innovation and public-private partnership.[4]
Within the UN system, the WSIS+20 process will continue to review progress on digital development, and the IndiaAI Impact Summit is positioned to connect that review with a concrete, forward-looking programme on AI. Member states and multilateral organisations that respond to India’s invitation will have the opportunity to shape this agenda by sharing national strategies, challenges and expectations around AI for sustainable development.
Administratively, the summit’s outcomes are likely to be captured in the form of working group reports, toolkits or collaborative frameworks rather than a single negotiated declaration, consistent with the government’s emphasis on impact over formal documents.[3][7][8] Governments, including India, may subsequently integrate relevant recommendations into national digital policies, sectoral schemes and regulatory developments.
Significance for Global AI Governance
By inviting all UN member states to New Delhi for the IndiaAI Impact Summit, India is seeking to create a bridge between global AI risk and ethics discussions and the operational realities of deploying AI in public systems, especially in the Global South.[1][3] The involvement of France as a co-organiser in the curtain raiser, along with key UN agencies, shows that the summit is conceived as part of a broader international architecture on AI governance rather than an isolated national event.[3][7][8]
For policymakers and administrators, the summit will be an opportunity to examine how responsible AI principles can be embedded in programmes addressing education, health, employment, climate resilience and social protection. For the public, the outcomes may eventually shape the design of AI-enabled government services, the safeguards around their use, and the mechanisms for transparency and redress.
As AI continues to expand across sectors, the IndiaAI Impact Summit’s focus on People, Planet and Progress and its explicit linkage to sustainable development aims to keep human welfare and environmental responsibility at the centre of emerging digital policies. The invitation to all UN member states marks the formal opening of this process to global participation, with New Delhi set to host a substantive round of deliberations on the future of responsible AI in 2026.
