India's Ambassador to the United States, Vinay Mohan Kwatra, has articulated India's artificial intelligence (AI) strategy, emphasizing the promotion of AI development, diffusion, and adoption across the nation's entire ecosystem. This strategy aims to harness AI for economic advancement and proactively address potential transformations in the job market.
Kwatra highlighted India's AI priorities and goals at a roundtable discussion at the Atlantic Council. He also briefed participants on the AI Impact Summit 2026, which India will host in New Delhi next February. This summit marks the first time a Global South nation has hosted such an event. The summit will be guided by the principles of People, Planet, and Progress. Discussions will revolve around seven thematic areas: Human Capital, Inclusion, Safe & Trusted AI, Resilience, Science, Democratizing AI Resources, and Social Good, highlighting AI's potential to positively impact citizens, communities, and the planet.
The India-AI Impact Summit 2026 will feature initiatives like the AI Pitch Fest (UDAAN), showcasing AI startups from across the globe and high-potential ventures from India's Tier 2 & 3 hubs, with a focus on women leaders and differently-abled changemakers. It will also include global innovation challenges for youth and women, and a research symposium to showcase AI research and bring together researchers and practitioners.
India's focus includes the India AI mission, development, diffusion and adoption across the entire AI ecosystem and its verticals including compute, talent and skill training, AI infrastructure, data, user cases and solutions. The Ministry of Electronics and IT (MeitY) stated that the summit's discussions would emphasize how AI can be an impactful force for citizens, communities, and the planet.
Furthermore, India is integrating AI into governance and developmental practices. Ambassador Parvathaneni Harish, India's Permanent Representative to the United Nations, emphasized the importance of responsible and ethical AI use. He cited national biometric systems and financial inclusion initiatives as examples of integrating AI into development, ensuring that these systems are accessible to everyone, regardless of economic class or education. India has also developed open-source digital governance tools, making the source code available on the internet.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has welcomed the expansion of US-based AI company Anthropic into India, with the company setting up its first Indian office in Bengaluru. Modi expressed his anticipation of working together to harness AI for growth across key sectors, noting India's vibrant tech ecosystem and talented youth are driving human-centric and responsible AI innovation.
The United States and India are also collaborating on AI and quantum research. They have awarded over $2 million in grants for joint projects under the USISTEF "Quantum Technologies and AI for Transforming Lives" grant competition. Eleven AI projects and six quantum projects will receive nearly $120,000 each, totaling more than $2 million in grants for joint research and development. These projects aim to address critical challenges for societal impact, such as AI-assisted early cancer detection and quantum components to enable scalable quantum computers. This collaboration signifies progress in joint research and development in quantum technologies and AI under the U.S.-India Initiative on Critical and Emerging Technology (iCET).
