India AI Impact Summit: AI for everyone! AI for Global South!; Google's America-India Connect Digital Infrastructure boost

Last updated on 26 Feb 2026

I saw most of this video and was very impressed: LIVE: PM Modi participates in the India AI Impact Summit at Bharat Mandapam, 1 hr. 27 mins, streamed live today (19 Feb. 2026) around 9 to 10 AM IST.

The theme of the main speakers including PM Modi, French President Macron, UN Secretary General Guterres and AI tech leaders of Google (Sundar Pichai) and Anthropic (Dario Amodei) was about AI for the developing world. I very much liked that! PM Modi, President Macron and UN Secretary General Guterres gave a lot of emphasis on AI safety. That was very reassuring to see.

PM Modi talked of embracing AI for the opportunities it presents but ensuring that it is used in a compassionate and safe way. PM Modi also emphasized AI serving all of humanity rather than only the powerful. PM Modi spoke in Hindi. All other speakers (unless I missed something) spoke in English.

Sam Altman of Open AI was also present but did not speak. It would have been great to hear his views on AI for the developing world at such an event.

===========================================

Announcing America-India Connect and new investments to advance global AI access, 19 Feb 2026.

Quite stunning to see how Google is boosting Digital Infrastructure across four continents.

Quoting Google from the article: " ... America-India Connect, a collaborative infrastructure initiative anchored by our five-year $15 billion AI infrastructure investment in India to increase the reach, reliability, and resilience of digital connectivity across four continents. 

In collaboration with local partners, America-India Connect will establish a new international subsea gateway in Visakhapatnam (Vizag); three new subsea paths connecting India to Singapore, South Africa, and Australia; and four strategic fiber-optic routes that bolster network resilience and capacity between the United States, India, and multiple locations across the Southern Hemisphere."

That is awesome! Hmm. It is a company, even if it is a mega company, that is making such a massive announcement! I mean, I would have thought such announcements would come from country government heads!

================================

21 Feb 2026 

I am sharing below, contents of my recent Facebook post which shares a post of PM Modi having a pic of him and Brazil President Lula.

I rarely share posts on politics nowadays. However, I am very happy to see Brazil and India co-operating on AI for Global South. 

Over the past year or so, I have got convinced that AI is going to be a big part of the future whether we like it or not. The AI company bosses first priority will be making money - such is life in our capitalism dominated world with, IMHO, capitalism proving to be a sustainable economic system as compared to others.

25 Feb 2026 Update

At the time I wrote the post on 21 Feb 2026, I was unaware that some leading AI companies such as OpenAI and Anthropic operate under Public Benefit Corporation (PBC) structures,  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benefit_corporation — a relatively recent legal innovation (2010) in the US. The CEOs of these PBC AI companies could very well be focused on working for benefit of all humanity. I cannot say that they have to focus on shareholder profit. Whether PBC governance meaningfully enforces public-benefit missions over time remains an open question, but their stated intent cannot be dismissed on structural grounds.

On 21 Feb 2026, I had written the following incorrect paragraph given below as a bullet and in italics. I am retaining this old incorrect paragraph as it may be useful to know that I had initially held this incorrect view: 

• The AI company bosses cannot be expected to have great concern about well being of the poor and the disadvantaged. I mean, CEOs and presidents of companies have to make good money for stockholders - period. Social outreach etc. may be OK in a limited way (small expense) but not really anywhere close to a driving force. The driving force for AI company bosses has to be - making money for stockholders.

Related blog post of mine: CEOs of OpenAI and Anthropic that are PBCs may be focusing on working for benefit of humanity as they say

end 25 Feb 2026 Update

So who will be trying to look at AI for the poor and disadvantaged, the developing world or Global South? This is where I think Brazil and India could make significant contributions for Global South as a whole.

From a recent X post by Ministry of External Affairs, India, https://x.com/MEAIndia/status/2025137913089196432 : "Discussions focused on strengthening India–Brazil Strategic Partnership across trade, energy, defence, agriculture, climate action, technology, AI, semiconductors, critical minerals and Global South cooperation."

China, of course, is a very big player in AI. But there are some concerns with Chinese AI. ...

As a web and mobile software developer, I think it would be awesome to have close to top-level open source agentic coding models supported by a Global South setup and/or the United Nations that can be used for agentic coding/development of medium-sized Next.js web apps and React Native and Expo mobile apps.