Passing the AI summit baton: From France to India | Anne Bouverot, French AI envoy

As France passes the Global AI Summit baton to India, what can we expect from the upcoming India AI Impact Summit 2026? In the first episode of our podcast series AI Futures: The Road to the India AI Impact Summit 2026 , we speak with Anne Bouverot, Special AI Envoy of the French President Emmanuel Macron. Bouverot organized the previous global AI summit - The AI Action Summit - in Paris in 2025. The AI Futures Podcast series, hosted by Anirudh Suri, is organized in collaboration with the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, Government of India in the run up to the India AI Impact Summit 2026 being held from Feb 16 - 20, 2026 in New Delhi, India. Bouverot and Suri unpack how the global AI race is shifting beyond a US–China race, and why countries like India and France want to be actors, not just customers, in the AI economy. They deep dive into questions like: - Why is “Impact” the core focus of the upcoming AI summit being hosted by India? - Can AI leadership be multi-polar, or will it remain a US - China race? - What are the energy and climate cost implications of large-scale AI? - What are the most exciting use cases of AI that we can expect in 2026? - Will AI simply reshape work—or quietly hollow out human skills? From geopolitics and talent flows to democracy, energy, and the future of work, this conversation asks what it will take to move AI debates from theory to real-world outcomes—especially for the Global South. And includes a special Rapid Fire session with Bouverot! This series is a collaboration between AI Futures Podcast & Hindustan Times. 🔔