Session brief:

AI is rapidly reshaping economies, public services, and governance. For young and growing countries across Asia and Africa that will host much of the world’s next billion people as the global population approaches 10 billion by 2100, the stakes are uniquely high. Choices made today will shape whether AI becomes a force for shared prosperity and public trust, or deepens inequality and power imbalances for generations.

Global AI leadership has evolved quickly. The UK-hosted AI Safety Summit in 2023 established shared concerns and guardrails. In 2025, India and France shifted the conversation toward action and implementation. In 2026, as New Delhi hosts the AI Impact Summit, attention turns decisively to how AI is governed, deployed, and experienced in young countries, and what this means for long-term legitimacy and public value.

This moment places India alongside other young countries at the center of the next phase of AI leadership as shapers of how AI delivers growth, equity, and trust at scale.