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AI Impact Summit: PM Modi unveils MANAV vision promoting ethical, inclusive AI
PM Modi unveils MANAV vision at New Delhi AI Impact Summit, promoting ethical, inclusive, and open AI with global participation and youth innovation
New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday unveiled the MANAV vision for artificial intelligence (AI) at the inaugural session of the AI Impact Summit 2026 at Bharat Mandapam, Delhi, outlining India’s approach to AI as ethical, sovereign, inclusive, and globally oriented.
“Today, at the New Delhi AI Impact Summit, I present the MANAV vision. MANAV means human. M stands for moral and ethical systems. A stands for accountable governance, transparent rules and robust oversight. N stands for national sovereignty - whose data, their rights. The second A stands for accessible and inclusive, not an AI monopoly, but a multiplier. V stands for valid and legitimate. This vision will be an important link in the welfare of humanity,” said the PM.
The emphasis on “whose data, their right” comes amid global debates over data localisation, cross-border data flows, and AI model training practices.
“We represent 1/6th of humanity. India is the world’s biggest country for youth, biggest country for tech talent pool, biggest tech ecosystem. India builds new tech and adopts new tech,” he said in his opening address to a hall packed with nearly 2,500 delegates.
Representatives from 118 countries attended, including French President Emmanuel Macron, UN secretary-general António Guterres, Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, Bhutan PM Tshering Tobgay, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi Sheikh Khaled bin Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Sri Lankan President Anura Kumara Dissanayake, and leaders from the Netherlands, Greece, Switzerland, Finland, and Estonia.
Tech leaders including Google Chief executive officer (CEO) Sundar Pichai, Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, and Google DeepMind CEO Demis Hassabis were also present.
Referring to the large turnout at the summit’s expo, Modi said, “There was enthusiasm over expo, youth came in huge numbers. The solutions presented here reflected made-in-India power, an example of India’s capabilities.”
It is estimated that about 200,000 people visited the expo and sessions on Wednesday. The inaugural session and expo were closed to the public on Thursday but will remain open on Friday and Saturday.
AI as a civilisational shift
Placing AI in the arc of civilisational shifts, comparing it to foundational technological breakthroughs, the PM said:
“When the first spark came from stones, no one imagined that spark would form the bedrock of civilisation. When voice was transformed into writing, no one knew that written knowledge would become the backbone of future systems. When signals were first transmitted, no one thought the world would one day be connected in real time. AI is a transformation of that scale. What we are predicting today is only a small part of what AI will become. AI is not just making machines intelligent; it is, in many ways, making humans more intelligent. The difference now is scale and speed. Earlier technologies unfolded over decades, but the journey from machine learning to the learning machine is rapid, deep, and widespread.”
He cautioned that the direction AI takes will depend on the decisions governments and societies make today. Drawing a parallel with nuclear power, he said AI is a transformative technology of similar scale—capable of being highly disruptive if misused, but immensely beneficial if guided responsibly. For India, he added, the benchmark is whether AI advances “welfare for all” and contributes to the broader public good, in line with the theme of the summit.
Open, ethical, and inclusive AI
PM Modi also emphasized the need to prevent concentration of power and data, advocating for democratized AI—a key goal of the government’s flagship India AI Mission.
“For AI, humans are only data points; they are just raw material. That is why we must democratise AI. Make it inclusive, especially in the Global South. We must give AI an open sky to grow, but keep the command in our hands. Like GPS that shows us the way, it is still up to us to decide which direction to take.”
On employment concerns, Modi argued that AI’s long-term impact would be shaped by policy choices. “Decades ago, when the internet was born, no one imagined how many jobs it would create. The same is true of AI. Today, it is not possible to ascertain how many jobs it will generate. AI’s future of work is not predefined; it depends on our course of action. We are entering an era where humans and intelligent systems co-create, co-work and co-evolve. AI will make our work more impactful, efficient and smart. We will design better, build faster and make better decisions.”
Advocating Open AI
In a departure from calls in some countries for tightly controlled proprietary systems, Modi advocated for open AI. Invoking the idea that transparency builds trust, he contrasted India’s approach with countries and companies that treat AI as a tightly guarded strategic asset.
“India believes AI delivers greater global benefit when its development is more open, with shared code and wider participation allowing millions of young innovators to improve systems and make them safer,” he said.
Deepfakes, labelling, and child safety
Modi also called for global standards on authenticity and safety in the age of generative AI:
“Like how we see labels on food items, we must have authenticity labels on content. We must know what is real and what is AI generated. As and when AI permeates more text, images, the need for watermarking and clear source standards is growing. We must have trust in tech from the get-go.”
In recent amendments to India’s Information Technology Intermediary Rules, the government mandated takedown of deepfakes within three hours, compulsory labelling of AI-generated content, and stricter intermediary compliance.
On child protection, he said, “Children’s safety has to be taken seriously.” French President Emmanuel Macron, speaking before Modi, also touched on child safety, noting France’s ban on social media for children below age 15 and inviting India to follow suit.
“Our platforms, governments should be working together to make the internet and social media a safe space. This is why in France we are embarking upon banning social media for children under 15 years old. I know PM [Modi] you will join this club,” said Macron.
As previously reported, India is considering an Australian-style model to partially ban social media platforms for users below age 16.
India’s growing AI ecosystem
PM Modi highlighted three Indian AI companies that launched their models at the summit: Sarvam AI, Gnani.ai, and BharatGen, showcasing India’s growing talent and ecosystem.
“From semicon to chip making to quantum computing, India is making a resilient ecosystem. Secure data centres, strong IT backbone, dynamic startup ecosystem make India a natural hub for affordable, scalable, and secure AI solutions. We have diversity, demography, and democracy,” he said.
“I request everyone – models developed in India can be globally deployed. Design and develop in India, deliver to the world, to humanity,” Modi added.
