Opinion | PM Modi’s MANAV AI Vision: Why The Global AI Moment Has Found Its Moral Compass In Delhi

Tuhin A Sinha & Sumit Kaushik

At a time when technology debates are polarised between techno-utopianism and existential dread, India offers a third path. This is not just India’s AI moment but its moral moment

When Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the India AI Impact Summit 2026 at Bharat Mandapam in New Delhi, it was not merely the opening of another technology conference. It was the articulation of a civilisational response to a technological inflection point.

Artificial Intelligence is not just another wave in the long arc of industrial revolutions. As the Prime Minister observed, humanity rarely recognises epochal shifts while living through them. Fire, script, wireless communication, each reset the trajectory of civilisation. AI belongs to that lineage. The difference this time is velocity and scale. The journey from machine learning to learning machines has compressed decades into years, perhaps even months.

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And it is no coincidence that this global conversation found its epicentre in India.

Geopolitics: AI and the Rebalancing of Global Power

In the 20th century, geopolitics revolved around territory, military alliances and fossil fuels. In the 21st, it increasingly revolves around algorithms, data flows and semiconductor supply chains.

AI is not just a technological asset; it is strategic infrastructure. Nations that lead in AI will shape global supply chains, defence architectures, financial systems, healthcare innovation and even democratic discourse.

Yet India’s framing is refreshingly distinct.........

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