India AI Summit Day 3: Key highlights

Sarvam AI has unveiled an artificial-intelligence model that's more tailored for India than the likes of ChatGPT and Claude.

The Bengaluru-based AI startup announced two models at the India AI Impact Summit 2026 in New Delhi—a showcase for Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s efforts to make his country a leading player in the emerging technology.

Sarvam’s AI models are built to be used through voice commands and are accessible through 22 Indian languages, which the company says will be a competitive advantage in the country of 1.45 billion where the vast majority can’t read, write or type in English.

Microsoft Corp. is on track to invest $50 billion by 2030 to expand AI access across the Global South to bridge the gap with Global North.

AI adoption in the Global North is roughly twice of the Global South and the gap is widening, Microsoft Vice Chairman and President Brad Smith said at India AI Summit 2026 in New Delhi on Wednesday.

“The India AI Impact Summit rightly has placed this challenge at the centre of its agenda,” according to a blogpost by the Windows operator.

“For more than a century, unequal access to electricity exacerbated a growing economic gap between the Global North and South. Unless we act with urgency, a growing AI divide will perpetuate this disparity in the century ahead.” (read more)

Galgotias University has vacated its stall at India AI Impact Summit at the Bharat Mandapm, following row over display of China-made robot dog. The government had asked the Greater Noida-based institute to vacate the stall at the expo. (read more)

Power has reportedly been cut off at the Galgotias University pavilion at the India AI Summit after it was asked to vacate the expo following a row over the display of a robotic dog, according to PTI.

They claimed to be something they are not, India AI Mission CEO and MEITY Additional Secretary Abhishek Singh said, when asked about the stunt pulled by Galgotias University to pass off a Chinese robodog as their own.

“We want genuine exhibitors at the expo. We don’t want controversy around exhibits here,” Singh said. “Plagiarism, misinformation cannot be encouraged. This should not overshadow the wonderful exhibits others have put out.”

“The main problem is they claimed to be something they are not. They misled. The whole world is here!”

To be sure, the Made-in-China Robodog is no longer at the stall of Galgotias University. In fact, the institute has been told to pack up and move out of the event.

The India AI Impact Summit 2026 has been extended by a day until Saturday, 21 February 2026, due to “overwhelming response”, IT Secretary S. Krishnan said on Wednesday.

The India AI Summit is being held at the Bharat Mandapam across 10 arenas covering 70,000 square metres, includes delegates from a myriad countries and the who's who of the AI world.

“Expo will not be open to the public on 19 February 2026 due to VIP movement,” Krishna said during a press conference on Wednesday.

Due to security reasons, Thursday's sessions can only be attended by invitees. All sessions will be streamed online. No public will be allowed at Bharat Mandapam on Thursday, 19 February.

Galgotias University has been asked to pack up from the venue of the India AI Impact Summit in New Delhi. The Greater Noida institute had shown a Chinese robotic dog as its own in a video, which triggered an online backlash.

Sundar Pichai, the India origin CEO of Google's parent Alphabet Inc., called on Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday, ahead of his session at India AI Impact Summit 2026 at the Bharat Mandapam.

We aren't there yet in terms of Artificial General Intelligence, or AGI, but it's certainly on the horizon, Google DeepMind CEO Demis Hassabis says at the India AI Summit in New Delhi.

“We are going to enter a golden era for scientific discovery, almost a new era,” Hassabis, who won the 2024 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his groundbreaking work on protein structure prediction using AI, said during a conversation with IIT Madras Professor Balaraman Ravindran.

As for AGI, “we are not there yet”.

“There are still things that systems can't do — things like continued learning still needs to happen,” Hassabis said. (read more)

Galgotias University has clarified that the “robodog” it showed at the India AI Impact Summit 2026 was not developed in-house, and that it never made such a claim. That, despite a video showing a professor of the university saying that the robodog was built in-house.

The Delhi Police has issued a traffic advisory that will be in effect from 4:00 pm to 10:00 pm today, on account of the India AI Impact Summit at Bharat Mandapam.

Commuters are advised to plan their travel in advance, avoid affected stretches, and follow directions issued by traffic personnel deployed on duty. Authorities have suggested the following alternate routes to ease congestion during the specified hours. (read more)

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang could not make it to the India AI Summit as he has caught a bug after three weeks on incessant travel, South Asia MD Vishal Dhupar said.

"Aren't we all missing Jensen? Everywhere I'm going, everyone is asking (about) Jensen," he said. “Jensen has travelled for three straight weeks, he caught a bug, he is under the weather.”

“We hope he is well soon, but we are delighted that we have Jay Puri leading a delegation to India and celebrate this very important week where the India AI Summit will demonstrate the power of India.”

Alphabet Inc. CEO Sundar Pichai has landed in New Delhi for the India AI Impact Summit 2026. He is set to participate in an exclusive session tomorrow at the Bharat Mandapam.

“Nice to be back in India for the AI Impact Summit — a very warm welcome as always and the papers looked great too:),” he wrote on X.