Chaos unfolded at the AI Impact Summit 2026 venue on Friday afternoon after a group of protesters, allegedly from the Indian Youth Congress, marched inside the venue and raised slogans against Prime Minister Narendra Modi and India-US trade deal. The protesters were seen carrying or wearing T-shirts with slogans such as ‘PM is compromised’, ‘India-US trade deal’ and ‘Epstein Files’, news agencyPTIreported. The protest led to a political slugfest as the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) slammed the Congress and branded the stir as “characterless, brainless, and emotionless."
India formally joined United States' major AI initiative Pax Silica on Friday, the fifth day of the ongoing India AI Impact Summit 2026. Pax Silica is US' flagship effort on AI (Artificial Intelligence) and supply chain security.
Additionally, the fifth and the conclusive day of the India AI Impact Summit 2026 will be marked by several key discussions, including on reimagining India's education system, the US-India partnership powering the AI era, AI in negotiations and diplomacy, data sovereignty, collective AI for Indian society, among many others.
The fifth day of the summit may also witness adoption of the Leaders’ Declaration which would affirm collective commitments and outlining a shared road map for global AI governance and collaboration. High-level Global Partnership on Artificial Intelligence (GPAI) council meetings will also take place.
This comes a day after PM Modi addressed the summit on Thursday and sought to frame India as a key player in AI ecosystem. During his address, PM Modi called for stronger guardrails to regulate emerging technologies and underlined the transformative potential of AI. He also emphasized on key topics such as child safety, and called for more democratisation of artificial intelligence.
He also hosted several heads of state at the Summit on Thursday and also held a CEO Roundtable which brought together several stakeholders from the world of AI. "The discussions were insightful and forward-looking, focused on scaling AI responsibly, strengthening global collaboration and unlocking opportunities for growth," he said in a post on X.
PM Modi's ‘MANAV’ vision
PM Modi, during his address on Sunday, presented India's ‘MANAV’ vision of approaching AI. ‘MANAV’, meaning human, stands for - "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 Prime Minister.
Sam Altman says ‘true superintelligence’ may be just couple of years away
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman delivered a keynote address the AI Summit on Thursday and said that superintelligence may be only a couple of years away but also warned that there may be a need of “something like the IAEA” to govern what follows.
“On our current trajectory, we believe we may be only a couple of years away from early versions of true superintelligence,” Altman said. “By the end of 2028, more of the world’s intellectual capacity could reside inside of data centres than outside," he added.