India AI Impact Summit 2026 highlights: AI policy decisions, industry announcements, and expert insights

Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited various stalls and interacted with companies participating in the AI Impact Summit 2026.

(Screenshot: YouTube/@NarendraModi)

On how the government can work with industry to provide guardrails fight deepfakes and disinformation, at the India AI Impact Summit, Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw says, "Deep fakes and disinformation are attacking the foundation of our society and the root of trust between institutions created by society. AI models, creators will have to take responsibility for making sure that the new technology is strengthening the trust rather than belittling it..."

At the India AI Impact Summit 2026, Greenbaum, part of the Israel delegation and Professor of Law from ZVI Meitar Institute, Reichman University, says, "I think this is a great opportunity to network, to see other movers and shakers in the area of AI and governance, see what's going on in emerging areas of technology. This is a huge effort on behalf of India. This is the first large AI summit for the Global South, and there is a lot to talk about and a lot of things to learn. It's very important for the Global South to be part of this conversation. We hear a lot about innovation and entrepreneurship in India's technology... I know that India has a lot of hope to develop models to have AI for India, to have India's voice as part of the AI ecosystem and this is a great opportunity for India to put its flag down and tell the world that it's here and it's a great opportunity for them to become as involved as they should be in the area of artificial intelligence..." --ANI

In a conversation with American media mogul and former diplomat Charles Rivkin at the AI Impact Summit 2026, Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said that protecting intellectual property rights while training AI models would require techno-legal solutions shaped by close engagement with the industry and building consensus at a global level, highlighting the complexity of the issue.

While underscoring the importance of strong copyright protections in building investor confidence to fuel innovation, Rivkin asked Vaishnaw how Indian ministries plan to guide the responsible use of artificial intelligence.

“The foundational models are trained using the knowledge which is there in the public sphere, books, periodicals, journals, films and videos, and every source of content. Is that model the right way of rewarding the creators? Are there more improvements to be done? Are there the right guard rails to be created so that there is a right balance between IP and innovation,” the Minister of Electronics and Information Technology framed these fundamental questions pertaining to the matter.

“Would a simple regulation do that? Probably, no. That would require a lot of consensus building and technological tools to be created. For such complex problems, we need to have techno-legal solutions – solutions which look at laws while simultaneously looking at technical guardrails, technical balancing features in the AI models and in the way AI is deployed,” Vaishnaw added.

“We are closely engaging with the industry to find out the right technical and legal structures for this. And this is something which will have to be taken up at a global level – this will require a consensus building across different countries,” he said.

Agreeing with Vaishnaw’s views, Rivkin said, “when rights are unclear, then risk tolerance is low,” while underscoring the rapid advancement in the AI.

In a virtual address to the AI Impact Summit 2026, Chief Economic Advisor V Anantha Nageswaran said AI adoption cannot just happen by drift and requires a clear commitment to aligning technological adoption with mass employability.

He emphasised strengthening foundation or education, high quality skills, expanding labour-intensive service sectors, and removing the regulatory bottlenecks.

Nageswaran highlighted the need for collaborative effort from private players, academia and policymakers, adding that "with foresight, institutional discipline, and relentless execution, India can become the first large society to demonstrate true human abundance," as quoted by news agency PTI.

Speaking at a session in the AI Impact Summit 2026, Union Minister Jitin Prasada urged caution in the use of AI tools, saying misinformation generated through artificial intelligence has the power to undermine democratic systems.

"If you don't get into digital literacy, then you have the vulnerability of falling to cyber threats. Cyber security is such a big issue, and AI deep fakes misinformation. And a country like India, which is truly democratic, and elections are happening all around the year, be it at the central level, state or municipality. But if there's kind of misinformation using AI, it has the power to derail democracies," the Minister of State for Electronics and Information Technology said, as quoted by news agency PTI.

"It has the power to change people's minds in the wrong fashion, and once a decision has been taken, as far as the vote goes, it could be so counterproductive, because you people have voted on false information. So we and the government have that challenge as well," he added.

Prasada also said that AI can significantly enhance learning for students and teachers, but it must not be treated as a shortcut that weakens critical thinking or curiosity.