French President Emmanuel Macron told the AI Impact Summit in New Delhi that Europe would remain a safe space for AI innovation and investment. Speaking in New Delhi, he said the European Union would continue shaping global AI rules alongside partners such as India.
Macron pointed to the EU AI Act, adopted in 2024, as evidence that Europe can regulate emerging technologies and AI while encouraging growth. In New Delhi, he claims that oversight would not stifle innovation but ensure responsible development, but not much evidence to back it up.
The French leader said that France is doubling the number of AI scientists and engineers it trains, with startups creating tens of thousands of jobs. He added in New Delhi that Europe aims to combine competitiveness with strong guardrails.
Macron also highlighted child protection as a G7 priority, arguing in New Delhi that children must be shielded from AI driven digital abuse. Europe, he said, intends to protect society while remaining open to investment and cooperation with India.
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An Indian university has vacated its stall at the AI Impact Summit in New Delhi after a staff member presented a commercially available Chinese robotic dog as a university-developed innovation. The episode has sparked criticism and drawn attention to India’s AI ambitions.
Footage showed a professor introducing the robot, named Orion, as developed by the Centre of Excellence at Galgotias University. Social media users later identified the device as the Unitree Go2, produced by Unitree Robotics in China and widely used for research and education.
The Indian IT minister initially shared the video before deleting the post. The university later clarified that the robot was not its own creation and said no official communication had confirmed its removal from the event. However, local reports indicated that the stall had been vacated.
The incident occurred during the AI Impact Summit at Bharat Mandapam, billed as a major AI gathering in the Global South. The event has also faced reports of overcrowding and logistical issues, even as more than $100 billion in AI-related investments were announced.
Opposition politicians in India criticised the government over the episode, arguing it undermined India’s credibility in the global AI race. Despite the controversy, the summit continues with high-profile participation from global technology leaders and heads of government.
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Google CEO Sundar Pichai said at the India AI Impact Summit 2026 in New Delhi that he never imagined Visakhapatnam would become a global AI hub. Speaking in New Delhi, he recalled passing through the coastal city as a student and described its transformation as remarkable.
In New Delhi, Pichai announced that Google will establish a full-stack AI hub in Visakhapatnam as part of a $15 billion investment in India. The facility is expected to include gigawatt-scale compute capacity and a new international subsea cable gateway.
The project in Visakhapatnam is set to generate jobs and deliver advanced AI services to businesses and communities across India. Authorities in Andhra Pradesh have allotted more than 600 acres of land near the port city for the proposed hyperscale AI data centre.
Reacting in New Delhi, Andhra Pradesh IT and HRD Minister Nara Lokesh welcomed the announcement and thanked Pichai for expressing confidence in Visakhapatnam. The development positions Visakhapatnam as a major AI infrastructure hub within India’s expanding technology sector.
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UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told the India AI Impact Summit 2026 that the future of AI must not be determined by a small group of nations or controlled by powerful private actors. He praised India’s leadership in hosting what he described as the first AI summit in the Global South.
Guterres said AI is transforming economies, societies, and governance at unprecedented speed. Inclusive and globally representative governance frameworks are essential to ensure equitable access and responsible deployment, he added.
‘The future of AI cannot be decided by a handful of countries or left to the whims of a few billionaires,’ he said, urging multilateral cooperation. Real impact, he added, means technology that improves lives and protects the planet.
United Nations officials say AI could help accelerate progress on nearly 80 per cent of the Sustainable Development Goals. Potential applications include reducing inequalities, strengthening public services, and enhancing climate action.
The UN has committed to a proactive, human rights-based approach to AI adoption within its own system. Agencies are deploying AI tools to address bias in data models, improve analytics, support innovation, and safeguard ethical standards.
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The chief executive of Anthropic, Dario Amodei, has said India can play a central role in guiding global responses to the security and economic risks linked to AI.
Speaking at the India AI Impact Summit in New Delhi, he argued that the world’s largest democracy is well placed to become a partner and leader in shaping the responsible development of advanced systems.
Amodei explained that Anthropic hopes to work with India on the testing and evaluation of models for safety and security. He stressed growing concern over autonomous behaviours that may emerge in advanced systems and noted the possibility of misuse by individuals or governments.
He pointed to the work of international and national AI safety institutes as a foundation for joint efforts and added that the economic effect of AI will be significant and that India and the wider Global South could benefit if policymakers prepare early.
Through its Economic Futures programme and Economic Index, Anthropic studies how AI reshapes jobs and labour markets.
He said the company intends to expand information sharing with Indian authorities and bring economists, labour groups, and officials into regular discussions to guide evidence-based policy instead of relying on assumptions.
Amodei said AI is set to increase economic output and that India is positioned to influence emerging global frameworks. He signalled a strong interest in long-term cooperation that supports safety, security, and sustainable growth.
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The European Central Bank (ECB) has joined forces with Spain’s ONCE Foundation to ensure the digital euro app is accessible to all citizens, including people with disabilities, older adults, and those with limited digital skills.
The partnership focuses on technical advice, design collaboration, and testing prototypes for accessibility.
ECB Executive Board member Piero Cipollone said accessibility is a core principle of the digital euro, designed to empower all citizens in the digital age. ONCE Foundation Director Jesús Hernández Galán said experts with lived disability experience are helping make the digital euro app practical and user-friendly.
The collaboration supports an ‘accessibility by design’ approach, going beyond minimum legal requirements under the European Accessibility Act.
Features under consideration include voice-controlled transactions, large-font displays, guided onboarding, and multiple support options to ensure clarity, simplicity, and control for users less confident with digital tools.
Public input will also shape the app’s development, with focus groups and vulnerable consumer feedback guiding design choices. The partnership follows European accessibility and digital regulations, promoting a user-friendly and inclusive digital euro for all.
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Narendra Modi presented the new MANAV Vision during the India AI Impact Summit 2026 in New Delhi, setting out a human-centred direction for AI.
He described the framework as rooted in moral guidance, transparent oversight, national control of data, inclusive access and lawful verification. He argued that the approach is intended to guide global AI governance for the benefit of humanity.
The Prime Minister of India warned that rapid technological change requires stronger safeguards and drew attention to the need to protect children. He also said societies are entering a period where people and intelligent systems co-create and evolve together instead of functioning in separate spheres.
He pointed to India’s confidence in its talent and policy clarity as evidence of a growing AI future.
Modi announced that three domestic companies introduced new AI models and applications during the summit, saying the launches reflect the energy and capability of India’s young innovators.
He invited technology leaders from around the world to collaborate by designing and developing in India instead of limiting innovation to established hubs elsewhere.
The summit brought together policymakers, academics, technologists and civil society representatives to encourage cooperation on the societal impact of artificial intelligence.
As the first global AI summit held in the Global South, the gathering aligned with India’s national commitment to welfare for all and the wider aspiration to advance AI for humanity.
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At an AI Impact Summit in New Delhi, Stuart Russell, a computer science professor at the University of California, Berkeley and a prominent AI safety advocate, said the ongoing AI arms race between big tech companies carries ‘existential risk’ that could ultimately threaten humanity if super-intelligent AI systems overpower human control.
He argued that while CEOs of leading AI developers, whom he believes privately recognise the dangers, are reluctant to slow development unilaterally due to investor pressure, governments could work together to impose collective regulation and safety standards.
Russell characterised the current trajectory as akin to ‘Russian roulette’ with humanity’s future and urged political action to address both safety and ethical concerns around AI advancement.
He also highlighted other societal issues tied to rapid AI deployment, including potential job losses, surveillance concerns and misuse. He pointed to growing public unease, especially among younger people, about AI’s dehumanising aspects.
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Microsoft has announced it is on pace to invest $50 billion by the end of the decade to expand AI access across the Global South, speaking at the India AI Impact Summit in Delhi. The company said AI usage in the Global North is roughly double that of the Global South, with the gap widening.
In India and other regions of the Global South, Microsoft is increasing investment in data centre infrastructure, connectivity and electricity to support AI deployment. The company reported more than $8 billion invested in infrastructure serving the Global South in its last fiscal year.
Microsoft is also expanding skills and education programmes in India, including a pledge to help 20 million people gain AI credentials by 2028 and a target to equip 20 million people in India with AI skills by 2030.
Additional initiatives focus on multilingual AI development, food security projects in Kenya and across Sub-Saharan Africa, and new data tools to measure AI diffusion. Microsoft said coordinated global partnerships are essential to ensure AI benefits reach countries in the Global South.
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The European Commission has proposed changes to the GDPR and the EU AI Act as part of its Digital Omnibus Package, seeking to clarify how personal data may be processed for AI development and operation across the EU.
A new provision would recognise AI development and operation as a potential legitimate interest under the GDPR, subject to necessity and a balancing test. Controllers in the EU would still need to demonstrate safeguards, including data minimisation, transparency and an unconditional right to object.
The package also introduces a proposed legal ground for processing sensitive data in AI systems where removal is not feasible without disproportionate effort. Claims that strict conditions would apply, requiring technical protections and documentation throughout the lifecycle of AI models in the EU.
Further amendments would permit biometric data processing for identity verification under defined conditions and expand the rules allowing sensitive data to be used for bias detection beyond high-risk AI systems.
Overall, the proposals aim to provide greater legal certainty without overturning existing data protection principles. The EU lawmakers and supervisory authorities continue to debate the proposals before any final adoption.
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