NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi on Thursday called for a human centric global artificial intelligence ecosystem and urged governments and companies to build safeguards that keep AI transparent, accountable and aligned with human values. Speaking at the Leaders’ Plenary Session of the India AI Impact Summit 2026, Modi said AI should be treated as a shared resource for the welfare of humanity and made accessible beyond a small group of countries and firms.
The summit, held at Bharat Mandapam in New Delhi, is bringing together heads of state and government, ministers, senior officials from multilateral institutions and industry leaders to discuss national and global priorities on AI, including governance, infrastructure and international cooperation. India’s government has described the summit theme as “Welfare for All, Happiness of All,” with a focus on People, Planet and Progress and working groups spanning topics from safe and trusted AI to human capital and resilience.
Modi said AI must help reduce divides that earlier waves of technology widened, and he urged that the aspirations and priorities of the Global South be placed at the center of AI governance. He said the debate over the future of AI should be anchored in broad access and inclusion, as countries seek to balance rapid innovation with public trust and safety.
He pointed to global cooperation during the COVID 19 pandemic as an example of what coordinated action can deliver, citing progress from vaccine development to supply chains and data sharing. He also cited India’s digital vaccination platform and the Unified Payments Interface, saying technology in India has been used as a tool of service and empowerment, including by supporting seamless digital payments and helping bridge the digital divide.
Ethics and transparency at the core
Modi said the scale and speed of AI increase the potential for unethical behavior, arguing that ethical norms must be “unlimited” to match the technology’s reach. He said AI companies carry a responsibility that extends beyond profit and must align purpose with commercial outcomes through strong ethical commitments. He also said AI is already influencing how people learn, think and feel, adding to the need for guardrails that protect users and society.
To advance ethical AI, Modi set out three proposals that he said should guide global approaches to development and deployment. First, he said AI training must respect data sovereignty and operate within a trusted global data framework. Referring to the principle of “garbage in, garbage out,” he said outputs cannot be reliable if the underlying data is insecure, imbalanced or not trustworthy.
Second, he called for safety rules that are clear and transparent, urging a “glass box” approach instead of a “black box,” with protocols that are visible and verifiable. He said transparency would strengthen accountability and support ethical behavior in business. Third, he said AI systems must be guided by clear human values so that powerful tools remain directed by people rather than narrowly optimized goals.
India’s AI Mission and national resources
Modi cited the “paper clip problem” to illustrate risks when a machine is given a single objective without human values to constrain it, saying a system could exhaust resources in pursuit of that goal. He said technology can be powerful, but direction must always be determined by humans. He added that India sees itself as having a major role in the global AI journey and is taking steps to expand access to computing and data.
He said that under India’s AI Mission, 38,000 graphics processing units are already available and 24,000 more will be added over the next six months. He said the aim is to provide startups access to world class computing power at affordable rates. Modi also highlighted AIKosh, India’s national dataset platform, saying more than 7,500 datasets and 270 AI models have been shared as national resources.
Closing his remarks, Modi said India’s approach is centered on building an AI future that advances innovation, strengthens inclusion and integrates human values. He said the true impact of AI will be visible when technology and human trust move forward together, and he urged leaders to use the summit to shape decisions that maximize AI’s benefits while keeping its systems safe, transparent and aligned with society. – By Content Syndication Services.
