AI Summit 2026: Free speech should be based on respect, transparency: Macron says 'highest point' in bilateral ties

AI Summit 2026 highlights: Top highlights of the day are:
- Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday held bilateral meetings with top leaders of Greece, Switzerland and the Netherlands, focusing on boosting ties in areas of trade and investment and critical technologies including semiconductors.

-Speaking at the AI Summit 2026 opening ceremony, PM Modi revealed that India will be focusing on its AI development with the MANAV vision.

-Coming from Mumbai, French President Emmanuel Macron praised India's digital transformation.

-Mukesh Ambani has vowed an investment of up to ₹10 lakh crore over the next seven years to build India's AI ecosystem.

-Despite being on a visit to India, Microsoft co-founder and former CEO Bill Gates announced that he will be skipping the AI Summit in New Delhi.

AI Summit 2026 LIVE: OpenAI CEO Sam Altman on Thursday said artificial intelligence will change the nature of software industry.

Altman further said that it “will be bad for some”, adding that many others have a different value proposition, PTI news agency reported.

AI Summit 2026 LIVE: French President Emmanuel Macron on Thursday emphasised that free speech must be grounded in respect and transparency, while asserting that the bilateral relationship between India and France is currently at its "highest point".

Speaking on the sidelines of the India AI Impact Summit 2026, Macron addressed concerns around free speech, stating, "As for the free speech, first, I saw a lot of people just quoting a small part of what I say, my point was just to say I do believe in free speech, but what does it mean? Free speech means I will listen to you, you will listen to me, and we are in an equal relationship." (ANI)

AI Summit 2026 LIVE: Google CEO Sundar Pichai on Thursday visited the commerce ministry's offee Board stall at the AI Impact Summit at Bharat Mandapam in New Delhi.

“When @SundarPichai drops by for a sip, you know it's truly worth it! The world is raising a cup to Bharat GI Coffee at #IndiaAIImpactSummit2026,” commerce and industry minister Piyush Goyal said in a post on social media platform X.

Pichai interacted with baristas (trained coffee professionals) while having India's premium Geographical Indication (GI)-tagged coffees.

AI Summit 2026 LIVE: IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw on Thursday said frontier AI companies, along with Indian innovators, have committed to advance understanding of real-world AI usage to support policies on various issues. Vaishnaw said this has been done under the 'New Delhi Frontier AI Impact Commitments', PTI reported.

“Leading frontier AI companies, along with India's own innovators such as Sarvam, Bharatjan, Yani and Soket, have come together to make a set of voluntary commitments that reflect a shared vision for inclusive and responsible AI,” he said.

AI Summit 2026 LIVE: French President Emmanuel Macron on Thursday said ties between France and India are at “the highest point.” “We want to do much more again because it's based on all our relations,” he said, adding that he has invited Prime Minister Narendra Modi for a state visit in July.

“He will come and he will be the special guest of our G7 as the President of the BRICS. And I will come back next year. He invited me and I would honor this invitation to go further,” Macron told reporters.

AI Summit 2026 LIVE: Roshni Nadar Malhotra, the chairperson of HCL Technologies, on Thursday highlighted the importance for India to transition from technology-led to IP-services led.

“India must move from being a tech services-led nation to an IP-led nation; services scale with effort. IP scales infinitely,” she said while speaking at the AI Impact Summit 2026.

AI Summit 2026 LIVE: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday held a bilateral meeting with Netherlands Prime Minister Dick Schoof on the sidelines of the India AI Impact Summit.

Earlier today, Schoof hailed the AI Impact Summit 2026, noting an artificial intelligence boom in India. “AI is booming here in India. On this first day of my visit, I spoke with various experts about AI technology and policy and India's role in this area on the world stage. I also took part in a conference attended by representatives of government, the business sector, and civil society,” Schoof said in a post on X.

AI Summit 2026 LIVE: Swiss President Guy Parmelin on Thursday said he looks forward to hosting the 2027 AI Summit in Geneva. Parmelin was speaking on the sidelines of the AI Impact Summit at the Bharat Mandapam in New Delhi on Thursday at a press conference.

Parmelin said he further looks forward “to working with the subsequent incoming host of the 2028 AI summit United Arab Emirates as partner for the Geneva Summit.”

AI Summit 2026 LIVE: Olivier Blum, chief executive officer of Schneider Electric, said on Thursday that if one cracks the code in India, they can succeed anywhere in the world.

“We are starting a new phase of the planet, a new technology revolution, which is called AI, where India can be the place where a lot of innovation starts with,” Olivier said, expressing confidence that India can innovate the next technology that will make the world more efficient.

“The level of innovation I know in India, some people also say 'jugaad' in India. But the level of creativity that you can have in India, yet new system that will solve the most complex problem of the planet can be done in this country,” the Schneider Electric CEO said.

AI Summit 2026 LIVE: OpenAI CEO Sam Altman on Thursday said artificial intelligence will change the nature of software industry.

Altman further said that it “will be bad for some”, adding that many others have a different value proposition, PTI news agency reported.

AI Summit 2026 LIVE: Chief AI Officer for Meta, Alexandr Wang, on Thursday said that India has “world-class developers” who are building “genius things” to sove societal challenges.

“Across India, creators use our AI to automatically translate reels into the language of the person watching. Small businesses talk to customers through WhatsApp business agents that they create in 10 minutes on their phones, and they use our Gen AI tools to create ads and reach customers way more efficiently than they ever could before,” Wang said at the AI Impact Summit.

He said that this usage gives Meta confidence about what they are building, adding that new models will be released this year, and the next one will be launched over the next couple of months.

AI Summit 2026 LIVE: Prime Minister Narendra Modi met Abu Dhabi Crown Prince HH Sheikh Khaled bin Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan on Thursday on the sidelines of the AI Impact Summit, ANI news agency reported.

The Crown Prince arrived in New Delhi a day earlier to attend the summit. Official Spokesperson for the Ministry of External Affairs, Randhir Jaiswal, stated that India and the UAE are trusted partners who are working to advance AI.

AI Summit 2026 LIVE: Chief Executive Officer and Chair of Accenture, Julie Sweet, on Thursday said the AI Impact Summit has been a “great recognition of the importance of countries coming together, private sector and the public sector, and it's really been a great testimony to the importance of India as well.”

“One of the themes of the summit has been the importance of inclusive growth, inclusive AI, and I think the fact that there are so many people here from around the world tells you that leaders are committed to this,” Sweet told PTI news agency.

AI Summit 2026 LIVE: Despite being on a visit to India, Microsoft co-founder and former CEO Bill Gates announced that he will be skipping the AI Summit in New Delhi.

Gates pulled out of the summit hours before his scheduled keynote address on Thursday. His absence comes days after Nvidia's Jensen Huang also withdrew from the evemt.

The Gates Foundation said the billionaire will not deliver his address "to ensure the focus remains on the AI Summit's key priorities". Only days ago, the foundation had dismissed rumours of his absence and insisted he was on track to attend.

Gates' cancellation follows the release of emails last month by the US Department of Justice that included communication between late financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and the Gates Foundation's staff.

AI Summit 2026 LIVE: Japan PM Sanae Takaichi, through a video message at the AI Summit 2026 in New Delhi, called for the creation of safe, secure and trustworthy AI systems.

“The goal of the summit is to harness the transformative impact of AI for inclusive growth and protection of plant in a way that benefits all of humanity,” said the Japanese PM, adding that there is a need to create a safe, secure and trustworthy AI ecosystem to minimise the risks posed by artificial intelligence.

AI Summit 2026 LIVE: Seychelles President Patrick Herminie has welcomed the approach adopted by India towards the growth of AI with a humanised approach.

Speaking at the Leaders' Plenary meeting, Herminie stated that the small island country may not have many resources, but has human capital that has duty and values.

The leader also spoke about using AI to improve governance, building resilience, reducing the cost of living, bio safety and security and diversification of the economy, as it called for support for other countries in the region.

AI Summit 2026 LIVE: Sam Altman, head of ChatGPT maker OpenAI, said that the world "urgently" needs to regulate the fast-evolving technology.

An organisation could be set up to coordinate these efforts, similar to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), he said.

"Democratisation of AI is the best way to ensure humanity flourishes," he said on stage, adding that "centralisation of this technology in one company or country could lead to ruin", he said at the Delhi AI Summit 2026.

AI Summit 2026 LIVE: Speaking at the Leaders' Penary Session at the Indian AI Impact summit, Prime Minister Narendra Modi caled for world leaders to create a roadmap for responsible AI..

“We should come together to create a roadmap for responsible impact of AI,” he said. The prime minister further added that AI can be converted into an opportunity.

“If we look at history, humanity converted every disruption into new opportunity; we have same opportunity and must convert it into progress,” said Modi.

AI Summit 2026 LIVE: Speaking at the India AI Impact Summit, Microsoft Vice Chairman Brad Smith called on the need to use artificial intelligence in the Global South to address the problems in the Global South.

AI Summit 2026 LIVE: While talking about how important India is for ChatGPT and the progress it has made in AI, Altman said, “One and a hundred million people in India use ChatGPT every week. India is also the fastest growing market now for CodeX. India, the world's largest democracy, is well-positioned to lead in AI not just to build it but to shape it and decide what our future is going to look like”.

AI Summit 2026 LIVE: OpenAI CEO Sam Altman addressed the AI Summit on Thursday and said that it was "incredible to India’s leadership and advanced AI".

“It is striking how much progress India has made in its mission to put AI to work for more people in more parts of the country. And India's leadership in sovereign AI… has been great to watch”.

AI Summit 2026 LIVE: Wipro's executive chairman Rishad Premji addressed the AI Summit on Thursday and said, “Once in a generation a technology emerges that doesn't just change what we can do, but truly changes what we must do. AI for me is certainly that technology”.

AI Summit 2026 LIVE: Google DeepMind CEO Demis Hassabis, while speaking at the AI Impact Summit in Delhi, said that India will be a powerhouse for AI.

“India will be powerhouse for Artificial Intelligence across the world,” he said, echoing Prime Minister Narendra Modi's claim that New Delhi will be leading and shaping the AI revolution.