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India and the Redefinition of Global Artificial Intelligence Governance
India has used the AI Impact Summit to position itself as a third pole in the global governance of artificial intelligence, emphasizing inclusion, development, and leadership within the Global South.
The 2026 AI Impact Summit in New Delhi, held in mid-February, represented the most ambitious attempt to date by an emerging power to influence the political, economic, and regulatory trajectory of artificial intelligence at the global level. In a context dominated by competition between the United States and China, India seeks to establish itself as a third actor capable of proposing an alternative model grounded in inclusion, development, and strategic autonomy. AI—now a crucial driver of global development—thus becomes one of the principal instruments through which New Delhi intends to strengthen its position within an increasingly multipolar international system.
The central message emerging from the summit was clear: artificial intelligence should not be regarded solely as a frontier technology or a tool of geopolitical competition, but as a public infrastructure capable of accelerating economic and social development. In this sense, New Delhi proposed a shift in the international debate—from an emphasis on risks and security concerns to a focus on tangible impacts on the real economy, public services, and ultimately citizens’ quality of life.
India has accordingly sought to present itself as a bridge between advanced economies and the Global South. Drawing on its experience in developing large-scale digital public infrastructures—from digital identity systems to interoperable payment platforms—the country argued that AI can become a tool of collective empowerment, capable of narrowing the digital divide and fostering more inclusive growth. The invocation of the principle “Sarvajan Hitaya, Sarvajan Sukhaya” (well-being for all, happiness for all) encapsulated this vision, in which technology is conceived as a means to human progress rather than an end in itself.
The conceptual framework of India’s strategy was articulated through the M.A.N.A.V. vision—“human” in Hindi and an acronym for Moral and Ethical Systems, Accountable Governance, National Sovereignty, Accessible and Inclusive AI, and Valid and Legitimate Systems. This framework integrates and systematizes many of the themes that have emerged in recent years within the global AI debate, shifting the focus from the purely technological dimension to that of communities, institutions, and the public interest. Such an approach reflects the intention to reconcile innovation with democratic values, maintaining that public trust constitutes the indispensable condition for the large-scale adoption of artificial intelligence. Within this perspective, technological sovereignty does not imply isolation, but rather the capacity to develop national models, infrastructures, and expertise while maintaining a high degree of international cooperation.
It is precisely here that the distinctive element of India’s proposal—the centrality attributed to the Global South—finds concrete application, linking normative vision to the practical dimension of development. New Delhi underscored that AI governance cannot be defined exclusively by advanced economies, but must also incorporate the needs of countries characterized by limited resources, rapid demographic growth, and urgent development requirements. In this regard, the emphasis on multilingual models, contextualized datasets, and applications in sectors such as healthcare, agriculture, and education reflects the ambition to build a more distributed and less concentrated technological ecosystem, capable of translating inclusive principles into operational capacity.
This need for large-scale operationalization has brought to the fore, alongside the normative dimension, a pragmatic approach oriented toward the development of concrete capabilities across the entire AI value chain—from applications and models to computing power, human capital, and energy infrastructure. The “full stack” strategy thus complements the Global South narrative, aiming to strengthen the country’s technological resilience and reduce dependence on a limited number of global suppliers, while still acknowledging the importance of partnerships with leading international companies.
Within this framework, the challenges that emerged during the summit did not obscure the strategic value of the initiative, but rather highlighted its structural complexity. India is operating in a sector characterized by high barriers to entry, where access to large-scale computational infrastructure is decisive in lending credibility to the inclusive ambitions advanced at the summit. At the same time, the current geopolitical climate—marked by intensifying great-power competition and a degree of skepticism toward new global governance mechanisms—makes it more difficult to build consensus around shared rules. This demonstrates how India’s international projection—both in relation to AI and in other domains—must contend with a still-fragmented global environment.
Nevertheless, these very challenges have helped define New Delhi’s present role as a laboratory of global adoption rather than as a frontier technological leader. Rather than competing directly in the realm of radical innovation, India appears to be positioning itself as the world’s principal laboratory for the large-scale adoption and application of artificial intelligence, thereby aspiring to serve as a virtuous example and guide in the shaping of international standards. The scale of its domestic market, the availability of qualified human capital, and the dynamism of its startup ecosystem constitute significant comparative advantages, capable of attracting the interest of major global technology firms and fostering strategic partnerships.
Overall, the AI Impact Summit marked an important step in India’s international projection as an emerging technological power and in the long-term global vision for AI. Rather than claiming immediate leadership, New Delhi has advanced a strategic proposal: to build a digital order in which artificial intelligence serves human development, economic stability, and international cooperation. At a time when AI is reshaping power balances and growth models, the Indian initiative suggests that technological competition will be determined not only by algorithmic superiority, but also by the capacity to offer a credible and inclusive vision of the global digital future. The success of this ambition will depend on the country’s ability to translate its narrative into tangible results, consolidating infrastructures, expertise, and partnerships.
