Modi’s remarks came as India — one of the fastest-growing digital markets — seeks to leverage its experience in building large-scale digital public infrastructure and to present itself as a cost-effective hub for AI innovation.
The summit was also addressed by French President Emmanuel Macron, Google CEO Sundar Pichai and U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres, who called for a $3 billion fund to help poorer countries build basic AI capacity, including skills, data access and affordable computing power.
“The future of AI cannot be decided by a handful of countries, or left to the whims of a few billionaires,” Guterres said, stressing that AI must “belong to everyone.”
India aims to ramp up its AI scale
India is using the summit to position itself as a bridge between advanced economies and the Global South. Indian officials cite the country’s digital ID and online payments systems as a model for deploying AI at low cost, particularly in developing countries.
“We must democratize AI. It must become a tool for inclusion and empowerment, particularly for the Global South,” Modi said.
He later separately met tech leaders, many of whom laid out their investing plans in India and agreed to commit to a broad set of principles for developing “inclusive and multilingual” AI.
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said the company will collaborate with India’s Tata Group on AI initiatives, including the development of data center infrastructure in the country.
“We believe the democratization of AI is the only fair and safe path forward,” Altman said at the meeting. A group photo with Modi, Altman and a dozen other tech leaders went viral when Modi invited everyone to hold and lift their hands together. Breaking the chain by not holding hands were Altman and Dario Amodei, the CEO of AI company Anthropic, which has been in a fierce rivalry with OpenAI. Altman later said he was confused about what was happening.
With nearly 1 billion internet users, India has become a key market for global technology companies expanding their AI businesses.
Last December, Microsoft announced a $17.5 billion investment over four years to expand cloud and AI infrastructure in India. It followed Google’s $15 billion investment over five years, including plans for its first AI hub in the country. Amazon has also pledged $35 billion by 2030, targeting AI-driven digitization.
India is also seeking up to $200 billion in data center investment in the coming years.
The country, however, lags in developing its own large-scale AI model like U.S.-based OpenAI or China’s DeepSeek, highlighting challenges such as limited access to advanced semiconductor chips, data centers and hundreds of local languages to learn from.
The summit has faced troubles
The summit opened Monday with organizational glitches, as attendees and exhibitors reported long lines and delays, and some complained on social media that personal belongings and display items had been stolen. Organizers later said the items were recovered.
Problems resurfaced Wednesday when a private Indian university was expelled from the summit after a staff member showcased a commercially available Chinese-made robotic dog while claiming it as the institution’s own innovation.
The setbacks continued Thursday when Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates withdrew from a scheduled keynote address. No reason was given, though the Gates Foundation said the move was intended “to ensure the focus remains on the AI Summit’s key priorities.”
Gates is facing questions over his ties to late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.