Global South took centre stage at the India AI Impact Summit 2026, as policymakers, regulators and tech leaders from Africa and Southeast Asia joined leading tech minds in India’s capital to forge strategic partnerships in artificial intelligence.
Held from February 16 to 20 at Bharat Mandapam in New Delhi, the summit, hosted under India’s national AI mission, drew thousands of delegates from more than 100 countries.
According to The Economic Times of India, the gathering underscored a growing push by emerging economies to shape the global AI agenda rather than merely consume it.
The event brought together government ministers, regulators, startup founders, infrastructure providers and global tech executives, including senior figures from companies such as Google and OpenAI, alongside policymakers from G20 and BRICS nations.
For Africa, representation was both symbolic and strategic.
Irene Karungi Sekitoleko, senior ICT Infrastructure Engineer at Uganda’s Ministry of ICT and National Guidance, said Kampala is actively developing governance frameworks to responsibly harness AI.
“We as Uganda are developing governance frameworks to support how to harness this emerging technology,” she said. “We would like to learn from countries like India, how they are scaling solutions and solving local contexts, and build partnerships to address challenges such as limited compute power and infrastructure.”
From West Africa, Maxwell Ababio, head of technology and ethics at Ghana’s Data Protection Commission, described the summit as a critical platform for regulatory alignment and shared progress.
“India is doing well. A lot has been learned, and more needs to be done. There is a clear appetite for deeper collaboration,” he said, noting Ghana’s efforts to finalise a national AI strategy.
The India AI Impact Summit has become a focal point for South-South cooperation, emphasising shared datasets, affordable compute infrastructure, ethical AI governance and localised innovation.
As the world accelerates AI adoption across finance, agriculture, healthcare and education, African leaders at the summit stressed the urgency of avoiding a new digital divide.
For a continent projected to host the world’s largest workforce by 2050, participation in shaping AI standards, infrastructure partnerships and skills development is key to keeping pace with the galloping AI race.
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