Desk Correspondent , New Delhi - As India is heading towards the last day of the AI Summit 2026 tomorrow, on February 20, the ambitious gathering of the major leading authorities and tech intellectuals from all over the world, in the hope of building a new AI India and marking an example to the world, turned out to be the epicenter of several controversies and organisational challenges. The dream of India's rising influence in AI seems to made India pay quite a high price by facing managerial issues while hosting an event on such a big scale.  

Held in Bharat Mandapam from February 16 to 20, it is a gathering where more than 100 nations meet—alongside many national leaders and major figures from the tech world—to talk over how AI is managed, built, guided by moral rules, and shaped into tools. While talks unfold inside, the scale shows who showed up.

On the plus side, India has strengthened its position as a major force in the global AI market. 
With over 250,000 commitments from individuals and organisations, the summit assisted India in setting a Guinness World Record for the most AI responsibility pledges made in a single day.
Massive investments were announced by tech giants: Google started its America-India Connect program, Microsoft promised $50 billion by 2030, and OpenAI teamed up with leading Indian universities to develop talent.
Additionally, Alexandr Wang, the head of AI at Meta, highlighted India's rich talent pool and commended the country's thriving startup scene.
To propel India's growth, private sector leaders like Jeet Adani advocated for increasing domestic AI capabilities.
And lastly, a plan for 100 MW of AI data center capacity with Tata Consultancy Services and OpenAI was among the strategic infrastructure partnerships that were announced.

However, there have been some issues with the summit. The organisers have come under severe criticism for the logistical chaos, which includes heavy VIP traffic on Delhi roads and overcrowding and registration bottlenecks on Day 1, which led to an apology from Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw.
Global tech giant Bill Gates called off his keynote address, according to the Gates Foundation, to maintain focus on summit priorities in the face of circulating media rumours based on his name in the Epstein case.
More surprisingly, after presenting a Chinese-made robot dog as an Indian invention, Galgotias University was asked to leave the venue, which caused a lot of backlash online from both delegates and detractors. This was another flashpoint.

Notwithstanding these disputes, leaders continue to concentrate on the following important issues: sovereign AI development, fair access, responsible AI use, and establishing international standards for the new technology.

Even though the path to that leadership has been as complicated as the technology itself, the summit in New Delhi is looking to be a turning point for AI policy in the Global South as it comes to an end tomorrow.