United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres met Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi on the sidelines of the India AI Impact Summit 2026, emphasising the need for global cooperation on artificial intelligence.
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres held bilateral talks with Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi on the sidelines of the India AI Impact Summit 2026.
Guterres, who arrived in India to attend the summit, stressed the importance of using artificial intelligence for global good while mitigating risks. Speaking at the Global AI Impact Summit, he urged countries to prepare, protect, and invest in people, noting that “trust is strained, and technological rivalry is growing.”
AI moving faster than policy
“We are barrelling into the unknown. AI innovation is moving at the speed of light, outpacing our collective ability to fully understand it. If we want AI to serve humanity, policy cannot be built on guesswork, hype, or disinformation. We need facts we can trust and share across countries and sectors. Less noise, more knowledge,” Guterres said.
He highlighted the UN’s steps on AI, including the recently formed Independent International Scientific Panel on Artificial Intelligence. “This panel is designed to help close the AI knowledge gap and assess the real impacts of AI across economies and societies. It is fully independent, globally diverse, and multidisciplinary, ensuring countries at every level of AI capacity can act with clarity. The General Assembly has confirmed 40 experts I proposed, and the panel will deliver its first report ahead of the global dialogue on AI governance in July,” he added.
Science-led governance for safer AI
Guterres emphasised that science-led governance can accelerate solutions while making progress safer, fairer, and more widely shared.
India AI Impact Summit 2026
The summit, hosted at Bharat Mandapam, New Delhi, brought together government policymakers, AI industry experts, academicians, technology innovators, and civil society from around the world. It is the first global AI summit hosted in the Global South and aligns with India’s vision of “Sarvajana Hitaya, Sarvajana Sukhaya” (welfare and happiness for all) and the principle of AI for Humanity.
The event drew participants from over 110 countries, 30 international organisations, about 20 heads of state or government, and around 45 ministers. Guided by three pillars — People, Planet, and Progress — the summit promotes human-centric AI, environmentally sustainable technology, and inclusive economic and technological growth.
A continuum of global AI summits
The India AI Impact Summit 2026 is the fourth in a series that began with the AI Safety Summit at Bletchley Park, UK, in 2023, which resulted in the Bletchley Declaration signed by 28 countries and the EU to manage frontier AI risks.
The AI Seoul Summit in 2024 further reinforced commitments to safe, innovative, and inclusive AI, while the AI Action Summit in Paris in 2025, co-chaired by France and India, expanded the focus to public interest, sustainability, democratic governance, and equitable access. The Paris summit saw 63 countries and the EU sign the Statement on Inclusive and Sustainable Artificial Intelligence for People and the Planet.
The 2026 summit builds on this process, aiming to advance a development-oriented global AI agenda with particular relevance for emerging economies and the Global South.
End of Article
