India AI Impact Summit 2026: Sundar Pichai, Sam Altman, Dario Amodei, and full list of CEOs attending the summit in Delhi

The India AI Impact Summit 2026 begins on February 16 in New Delhi, bringing together some of the most powerful names in global technology under one roof. Google CEO Sundar Pichai, OpenAI's Sam Altman, Anthropic's Dario Amodei, and Google DeepMind's Demis Hassabis are all expected at Bharat Mandapam for what is the first major global AI summit to be hosted in the Global South. With over 40 CEOs, 20 heads of state, and an expected $100 billion in investment commitments on the table, this is shaping up to be one of the most significant tech gatherings of the year.Prime Minister Narendra Modi will meet 35-40 CEOs on the sidelines and is scheduled to address the main plenary on February 19. The five-day summit is organised around three pillars—People, Planet, and Progress—and will run across multiple venues in the national capital, including Bharat Mandapam and Sushma Swaraj Bhawan. The summit isn't just a boardroom affair. Yann LeCun, Meta's former chief AI scientist and a Turing Award winner, and Yoshua Bengio, founder of Quebec's Mila Institute and another Turing laureate, are both on the attendee list. Their presence signals that the summit aims to bridge the gap between AI commerce and AI research.Here's a look at the confirmed and expected attendees:The timing isn't accidental. India generates nearly 20 per cent of the world's data, has the second-largest AI workforce globally, and over 700 million internet users. For AI companies spending billions on development, India's massive service economy—often called the back-office of the world—is where the customers are.The groundwork is already visible. Microsoft committed a record $17.5 billion over four years to expand AI infrastructure in India, its largest-ever investment in Asia. Anthropic recently hired former Microsoft India MD Irina Ghose to lead its local operations. OpenAI has set up a dedicated India sales division. Google has partnered with the government and edtech platform Physics Wallah to push AI in education. On the hardware side, India's 21-year tax holiday for data centres has companies like Nvidia watching closely.Beyond the boardroom meetings, the summit features an expo spread across 70,000 square metres with 300-plus exhibitors from 30 countries. Leaders from 20 nations, including France's Emmanuel Macron and Brazil's Lula da Silva, are scheduled to attend alongside over 50 international ministers and the UN Secretary General. More than two lakh participants have registered, including a notable number of farmers and grassroots workers—reflecting India's push to connect AI with real-world development.The event also includes innovation challenges with serious prize money. AI for ALL and AI by HER—the latter focused on women-led innovation—both carry top prizes of Rs 2.50 crore. YUVAi targets young innovators aged 13-21, with awards up to Rs 85 lakh. The summit wraps up on February 20 with the GPAI Council meeting.