AI Impact Summit 2026: Google CEO Sundar Pichai meets PM Modi

Prime Minister Narendra Modi met Google CEO Sundar Pichai on the sidelines of the AI Impact Summit in New Delhi on Wednesday.

“It was a delight to meet Mr. Sundar Pichai on the sidelines of the AI Impact Summit in Delhi. Talked about the work India is doing in AI and how Google can work with our talented students and professionals in this field,” PM Modi said on X.

It was a delight to meet Mr. Sundar Pichai on the sidelines of the AI Impact Summit in Delhi. Talked about the work India is doing in AI and how Google can work with our talented students and professionals in this field.@sundarpichai pic.twitter.com/lUCzOn0LSh

— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) February 18, 2026

Pichai arrived in New Delhi on Wednesday to attend the AI Impact Summit. In a post, the Alphabet CEO said it was "nice" to be back in India.

AI Impact Summit highlights

Day 1

The summit opened on February 16 with PM Modi launching the event in New Delhi’s Bharat Mandapam. He said that India stands at the forefront of the transformation of artificial intelligence.

The first day of the summit attracted over thousands of participants from all over the world. The summit hosted more than 100 events, not counting sessions that were not livestreamed. Across the expansive exhibition hall complex, upwards of 400 booths were in operation, representing industry leaders, academic institutions, startups, and major global technology companies.

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PM Modi also inaugurated the India AI Impact Expo at Bharat Mandapam, where he interacted with startups and companies by visiting stalls and talking to representatives.

Dozens of world leaders, delegates, and participants from more than 100 countries have registered to take part in the AI Impact Summit 2026. The gathering includes 20 prime ministers and presidents, among them French President Emmanuel Macron, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, and Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Khaled bin Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan.

Day 2

The second day of the big ticket event opened the floor to more innovators with over 300 exhibitions from 30 countries. A key focus of Day 2 was the democratisation of AI. For artificial intelligence to be truly effective in a country as diverse as India, it needs to operate in more than just English.

Exhibitors highlighted multilingual Large Language Models (LLMs) tailored to reflect India’s regional languages and cultural nuances. These solutions are intended to empower small business owners in remote villages, enabling them to use AI for tasks such as accounting, content creation, and other day-to-day operations.

A major development that came from the second day was when Union IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said that India is stepping up scrutiny of age-based restrictions on social media platforms, following Australia’s move to ban users under 16 from platforms such as Instagram,  X, YouTube, TikTok and Snapchat.

Vaishnaw also emphasised on the imposition of stronger rules needed on deepfakes, while expecting $200 billion in AI investment over the next two years.