Walking into Bharat Mandapam this week feels less like entering a conference venue and more like stepping into a working prototype of the future. Holographic avatars greet visitors in multiple Indian languages, autonomous systems churn out live news bulletins without human editors, and school students debate AI ethics just steps away from global heads of state.

This is the India–AI Impact Summit 2026, the largest AI-focused global convening ever hosted in the Global South—and one that is deliberately blurring the lines between policy dialogue and real-world deployment.

Inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the five-day summit (16–20 February) has brought together over 20 Heads of State and Government, 60 Ministers, and more than 500 global AI leaders. Yet, unlike many global technology summits, the focus here is not on speculative futures but on measurable social and economic impact.

The Summit’s theme —“Sarvajana Hitaya, Sarvajana Sukhaya: Welfare for All, Happiness for All”—runs through every hall, panel, and pavilion. Anchored in the three guiding Sutras of People, Planet, and Progress, India’s AI narrative is framed around inclusion, sustainability, and development at scale.

From Diplomacy to Demonstration: The Expo as the Summit’s Beating Heart

While closed-door ministerial meetings and high-level policy sessions unfold across the venue, the real energy of the Summit is concentrated in the India AI Impact Expo 2026, spread across more than 70,000 square meters and hosting over 300 exhibitors from 30 countries.

The Expo is designed not as a showcase of concepts, but as a proof-of-scale marketplace, demonstrating how artificial intelligence has moved beyond pilots into deployable, investable, and export-ready solutions.

The WAVES Creators Corner: Where AI Meets Culture and Media

One of the most visited zones is the WAVES Creators Corner, curated by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting. Here, 51 Indian startups from the AVGC-XR (Animation, Visual Effects, Gaming, Comics and Extended Reality) and Media Tech sectors are drawing steady crowds of policymakers, investors, creators, and international delegates.

Among the standout attractions:

• Zero-Touch Autonomous Newsroom: A fully automated system that ingests live video feeds from the Summit and instantly converts them into multilingual breaking news bulletins in Hindi, English, and Tamil—without human intervention.
• The Bhasha-Wall: A massive video grid demonstrating real-time, lip-synced dubbing across eight Indian languages, alongside an AI-powered sign-language avatar, drawing attention from accessibility advocates and broadcasters alike.
• Samvad Setu: An interactive installation allowing visitors to “converse” with historical figures using generative AI, blending education, storytelling, and immersive design.
• The Director’s Chair: A voice-controlled filmmaking experience where users alter lighting, camera angles, and even plot direction in real time.
• Swar Sangam: An AI music engine that composes broadcast-quality anthems in seconds, attracting media houses and advertising professionals.

For many international delegates, these installations offer a glimpse into how India is localizing AI—adapting it to linguistic diversity, cultural nuance, and mass accessibility.

Gaming, Immersion, and the Rise of AI-Native Entertainment

India’s growing presence in AI-powered gaming and immersive media is another major draw. Five startups—Yesgnome, Metasports (Hitwicket), Koyozo, Youth Buzz (Ourcadium), and Evivve—are showcasing how AI is reshaping both entertainment and enterprise thinking.

• Yesgnome is demonstrating Sketly AI, a generative art platform that produces production-ready game assets while maintaining stylistic consistency—an innovation attracting indie studios and global publishers alike.
• Metasports’ Hitwicket, already boasting over 18 million users, is wowing audiences with a generative AI commentary engine that delivers personalized, real-time voice narration during live cricket gameplay.
• Koyozo is positioning smartphones as console-grade gaming devices through its modular handheld ecosystem, addressing fragmentation in India’s mobile gaming market.
• Youth Buzz’s “Man vs. GPT” experience pits human players against adaptive AI opponents, translating complex AI concepts into engaging, audience-friendly gameplay.
• Evivve is running a live diagnostic lab, assessing what it calls “cognitive AI readiness” among enterprise leaders—highlighting the human and organizational dimensions of AI adoption.

Cinema, Creativity, and AI as a Cultural Tool

The AI Immersive Theatre has emerged as a cultural centerpiece of the Expo. Featuring 270-degree projection and spatial audio, it hosts screenings of AI-generated short films under the Kathāvatār showcase, developed in partnership with Adobe. These films reinterpret Indian folklore through algorithmic storytelling, sparking conversations on authorship, ethics, and creative collaboration between humans and machines.

Masterclasses by filmmakers and technologists, including sessions on AI-powered storytelling and responsible creativity, have drawn packed audiences—signaling how quickly AI is becoming integral to India’s creative economy.

Startups, Students, and the Future Workforce

Beyond polished demos, the Summit is also investing in future talent. The India AI Tinkerpreneur programme, aligned with the Summit, brings school students into hands-on AI and entrepreneurship bootcamps, reinforcing the government’s emphasis on early skilling and innovation literacy.

Meanwhile, youth finalists from the YUVAi Global Challenge—some as young as 13—are presenting AI solutions for climate monitoring, education access, and local governance, often to rooms filled with ministers and global investors.

From Global South to Global Standards

What distinguishes the India–AI Impact Summit 2026 is not just its scale, but its intent. By coupling high-level global dialogue with visible, working solutions on the Expo floor, India is positioning itself as both a laboratory and a leader—one that champions responsible AI while insisting on accessibility, affordability, and social good.

As delegates move between policy roundtables and buzzing startup booths, a clear message emerges: this is not merely a summit about the future of AI. It is a demonstration of how AI, when shaped by public purpose, can be embedded into everyday life—at national scale.

In that sense, the India–AI Impact Summit 2026 is less a moment in time and more a statement of direction—signaling how the next chapter of global AI governance and innovation may well be written from the Global South.

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