The Global South Negotiates the Future of AI
Zindagi With Richa
Author- Shantanu Chaudhary
As the morning haze lifts over the Bharat Mandapam, the sprawling convention center that once hosted the G20 is bracing for a different kind of geopolitical convergence. Today marks the commencement of the India AI Impact Summit 2026, a pivotal moment that will determine the Global South AI future and signal a structural realignment in the diplomacy of emerging technologies.
For the first time in the brief, volatile history of global AI governance,following the safety-obsessed declarations of Bletchley Park, the regulatory maneuvering of Seoul, and the corporate commitments of Paris, the epicenter of the conversation has shifted.
The industrialized Global North has ceded the floor to the Global South, moving the agenda from theoretical existential risk to urgent, empirical deployment.
A New Center of Gravity
As delegations from over 100 nations and the chief executives of the world’s most powerful technology conglomerates descend on New Delhi for this five-day summit, the message from the host nation is clear: While the foundational architectures of AI may have been engineered in Western laboratories, the trajectory of the Global South AI future will be tested in the complex, resource-constrained realities of the developing world.
Beyond the Hype: Sutras, Chakras, and Hard Economics
To impose order on this massive gathering and articulate a clear vision for the Global South AI future, Indian officials have engineered an ideological framework that is distinctly non-Western. The summit is anchored in three “Sutras” (guiding threads):
- People
- Planet
- Progress
These branch into seven “Chakras” or working groups addressing everything from human capital development to climate resilience.
While the nomenclature is traditional, the intent is aggressively pragmatic. The “safety” debated here is not just about rogue superintelligence, but about the safety of livelihoods in a shifting labor market and the integrity of democratic information ecosystems.
This pivot toward the practical is exemplified by the summit’s “impact first” schedule. Central to the week is a collaboration with the Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL), designed to subject AI interventions to the same rigorous, randomized controlled trials used in development economics. The goal is to dismantle the “pilot purgatory” where flashy tech demos fail to scale beyond proof-of-concept that plagues the developing world.
The Diplomacy of Infrastructure: Titans in Town
The attendee list reads like a roll call of the new digital order. Alongside Heads of State like France’s Emmanuel Macron and Brazil’s Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, the summit hosts the titans of Silicon Valley:
- Sam Altman (OpenAI)
- Sundar Pichai (Google)
- Dario Amodei (Anthropic)
- Demis Hassabis (Google DeepMind)
Their presence is driven by hard economic calculus. As these firms burn through billions in capital expenditure, they face an urgent need for massive consumer adoption. India, with its 700 million internet users and 20 percent of the world’s data, represents the deepest pool of potential users.
However, India is signaling that it intends to be a player, not just a playground. The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) has used the run-up to the summit to broadcast its “sovereign compute” capabilities. Through the ₹10,372 crore IndiaAI Mission, the state has provisioned over 34,000 high-end GPUs, offering domestic startups subsidized access to the kind of compute power usually reserved for Western tech giants. The message is unmistakable: technological sovereignty is non-negotiable for a self-reliant Global South AI future.
The Unresolved Contradictions
Yet, beneath the polished veneer of the Bharat Mandapam, profound tensions threaten to complicate the narrative.
1. The Environmental Paradox
The most glaring issue is the environmental cost. The summit’s “Planet” Sutra calls for climate resilience, yet the training of frontier models requires terawatt-hours of electricity and millions of liters of water resources already scarce in the Global South. While policymakers are floating the concept of “Frugal AI” (smaller, efficient models deployed at the edge), it remains to be seen if the industry can pivot away from its obsession with ever-larger, energy-hungry models.
2. The Trust Deficit
Civil society groups warn that the glossy corporate alliances may obscure a deteriorating environment for digital rights. Reports from organizations like the Internet Freedom Foundation highlight the “trust deficit” widening across the gender divide, where women are significantly less likely to engage with AI tools due to fears of deepfakes and harassment.
3. The Specter of Surveillance
Critics argue that without robust, enforceable privacy laws, the “Digital Public Infrastructure” India’s network of identity, payment, and data-sharing systems, could easily morph into an engine of mass profiling. The fear is that the summit’s reliance on voluntary corporate commitments will provide diplomatic cover for business-as-usual, leaving vulnerable populations exposed to algorithmic bias.
A Watershed Moment for Global AI
Despite these anxieties, the significance of the moment is undeniable. The India AI Impact Summit 2026 is not just a trade show; it is a geopolitical negotiation over the terms of the Global South AI future and the twenty-first century’s economic architecture.
By asserting that the future of AI must be determined by its ability to deliver clean water, fair loans, and accurate medical diagnoses to the remotest village, New Delhi has successfully expanded the definition of “AI Safety.” The coming days will reveal whether this ambitious vision can be translated into binding commitments and measurable outcomes, or if it will remain, like so many summits before it, a high-altitude exercise in rhetoric.
For now, the world is watching. The conversation has moved South, and the stakes have never been higher.