New Delhi this week is the site of a major gathering of artificial intelligence leaders and government officials as India stages the India AI Impact Summit. The event, which opened on Monday, draws top executives from global AI companies alongside heads of state and senior policymakers as India seeks to accelerate investment and shape global AI discussions.
Among the corporate speakers scheduled are Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei, Reliance Chairman Mukesh Ambani and Google DeepMind CEO Demis Hassabis, who are slated to address the summit on Thursday. India’s prime minister framed the meeting as focused on human-centered outcomes, saying the summit theme reflects a commitment to using artificial intelligence for broad social benefit.
New Delhi marks the first time the global AI summit has been staged in a developing country. Indian officials have presented the forum as an opportunity to highlight the perspectives and priorities of developing nations in conversations about AI governance and oversight. They have emphasized deployment of AI at scale and application-led innovation as central pillars of the country’s approach.
India has already attracted substantial commitments from major cloud and AI investors. Alphabet’s Google, Microsoft and Amazon have pledged a combined $68 billion for AI and cloud infrastructure investment through to 2030. Indian policy documents cited by officials urge a focus on practical, application-driven adoption rather than competition to build the largest foundational models.
Domestic traction for AI is significant: India had more than 72 million daily ChatGPT users by late 2025, making it a major market for OpenAI. At the same time, observers warn that rapid automation could create disruption for the country’s large technology services industry. India’s IT sector, estimated at $283 billion, faces potential revenue pressure in areas such as call centres, where one investment bank has projected a possible 50% revenue impact from AI adoption by 2030.
The scale of the summit is reflected in the logistics planned for delegates and exhibitors. Organisers expect in excess of 250,000 visitors, and the expo at Bharat Mandapam will host more than 300 exhibitors across some 70,000 square metres of space. The venue itself is a significant infrastructure investment; the convention complex was built at a cost of $300 million.
The influx of attendees has had immediate effects on the city’s hospitality market. Luxury hotel rates have surged, with social media highlighting dramatic price increases for high-end suites. For example, a suite at the Taj Palace that typically lists at about $2,200 per night was shown last week at rates exceeding $33,000 per night, illustrating the short-term pressure on room supply in central Delhi.
Authorities have also planned for traffic and operational impacts around the summit. India’s Supreme Court issued a circular allowing advocates to appear by video conferencing during the summit week, citing expectations of notable traffic congestion in the court’s vicinity tied to the event.
Previous iterations of the global AI summit - held in locations such as Bletchley Park, Seoul and Paris - tended to concentrate on safety commitments, voluntary corporate pledges and governance statements. Critics have noted that earlier meetings produced few enforceable mechanisms. Indian organisers have signalled that they intend for this edition to elevate the interests of developing countries in the larger governance conversation, while highlighting India’s potential as a large-scale deployment environment for AI applications.
As the summit progresses, delegates and observers will watch how India balances the twin goals of attracting investment and managing the domestic economic and labour impacts of rapid AI adoption, particularly in sectors such as information technology, business process services and hospitality that are directly affected by the event itself.