Artificial intelligence must be treated as a strategic national capability anchored in infrastructure, autonomy and public access, global technology and industry leaders said during keynote sessions at the India AI Impact Summit 2026 held at Bharat Mandapam.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the summit, welcoming global leaders and innovators and noting that 1.4 billion Indians are ready to embrace emerging technologies.
AI autonomy and open access
Arthur Mensch, CEO and co-founder of Mistral AI, argued that AI should expand human capability rather than concentrate power. “AI should be a tool for empowerment, not for dominance. Countries and regions must own their AI destiny — it is a necessity for preserving digital autonomy,” he said, warning against a future where access to intelligence is controlled by a handful of companies.
He emphasised decentralised innovation and open ecosystems as essential to maintaining technological sovereignty.
AI as industrial infrastructure
Rajesh Subramaniam, CEO of FedEx, described AI as the operational backbone of the next industrial era, particularly in global logistics and supply chains.
“AI is no longer a trend — it is the next industrial system. Intelligence is not an asset, it is infrastructure,” he said, adding that predictive intelligence will enable resilient commerce networks and disruption-proof supply chains over the coming decades.
Energy, compute and sovereignty
Jeet Adani, Director at Adani Digital Labs, linked AI capability directly to national infrastructure strength, especially energy systems.
“AI is written in code, but it runs on electricity. If a nation’s energy systems are fragile, its intelligence systems are fragile,” he said, outlining energy, compute and services sovereignty as the three pillars of India’s AI strategy.
He added that investments in green and sovereign infrastructure would determine whether India merely participates in the AI century or shapes it.
Inclusion and mass empowerment
Venture capitalist Vinod Khosla highlighted large-scale public benefit as the defining test of AI adoption in India, advocating AI-driven education, healthcare and agriculture services accessible to all citizens.
“Unless AI benefits the bottom half of India’s population, we will not see its true impact,” he said, noting that technologies once requiring massive capital investment can now be delivered cheaply at scale.
Speakers converged on the view that the next phase of AI development must combine technological advancement with ownership, accessibility and resilience. From open-source autonomy and sovereign infrastructure to intelligent supply chains and universal digital services, they said India stands at a crucial inflection point in shaping globally influential and inclusive AI systems.
