India’s homegrown Sarvam AI is a next-generation artificial intelligence model built to understand and process Indian languages and contexts. Developed by a Bengaluru-based startup, the model supports 22 official Indian languages and performs tasks such as image captioning, speech recognition, scene text reading, and document understanding. At the India AI Impact Summit 2026, Google CEO Sundar Pichai praised the initiative, highlighting India’s growing AI capabilities. Reports suggest Sarvam AI has outperformed leading global systems in select Indian language benchmarks, marking a major step toward sovereign AI development and improved digital accessibility across India. 

Google and Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai said India is a global model for making AI accessible to more people. He spoke at a press conference in New Delhi before the India AI Impact Summit. Pichai said India’s digital systems and language diversity create a strong base for AI growth. He said the country is set for an “extraordinary trajectory” in AI. Google announced new India-focused steps. These include subsea cable links, AI tools for 10,000 schools, and support for 2 crore public servants. A new AI certificate course will be offered in English and Hindi. “AI must work across languages and local contexts,” he said.

Galgotias University was asked to vacate its stall at the India AI Impact Summit after a dispute over a robotic dog display. A viral video showed staff saying the robot was built by the university’s Centre of Excellence. Social media users identified the machine as a Chinese-made Unitree Go2 sold online. The robot was presented at the expo under the name “Orion.” The university later said it only purchased the robot for training and never claimed to have built it. “It is a classroom in motion,” the university said in a statement on X. A community note said earlier on-camera claims showed otherwise. 

Galgotias University vacated its stall at the India AI Impact Summit in New Delhi after a controversy over a robotic dog displayed at its booth, sources said. The device shown as part of a campus AI project was identified online as a Chinese-made Unitree Go2 robot. A professor had described it as developed under the university’s AI initiative. The university later said it never claimed it built the robodog and called it a teaching tool. An X community note disputed this clarification. Professor Neha Singh said, “We cannot claim that we manufactured it.” Registrar Nitin Kumar Gaur called the issue a communication mix-up. (PC: India Today)

Google CEO Sundar Pichai met Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday on the sidelines of the India AI Impact Summit 2026 at Bharat Mandapam, New Delhi. The two discussed Google's ongoing and future collaborations in AI research, innovation, and applied sciences. PM Modi announced India will "more than double" its GPU capacity within six months. The five-day summit, running February 16–20, brings together global policymakers, tech CEOs, and researchers. Key highlights include the launch of India's homegrown AI wearable glasses, Sarvam Kaze, TCS committing $2 billion to AI research, and a $540 million Bridgewater Associates investment into AI startup Edgelingo. Modi is scheduled to meet over a dozen world leaders on the summit's sidelines.

Google and Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai has reached India to attend the AI Impact Summit in New Delhi, where he will give the keynote address on February 20. After landing, Pichai shared a message on X saying, “Nice to be back in India for the AI Impact Summit.” The five-day event began on February 16 at Bharat Mandapam and is organised under the IndiaAI Mission and the Ministry of Electronics and IT. The summit focuses on responsible and inclusive use of artificial intelligence. Several global tech leaders and policymakers are taking part. Pichai said Google wants to be a long-term AI partner for India. (PC: HT)

Prime Minister Narendra Modi declared India's bold ambition to become one of the top three AI superpowers globally at the India AI Impact Summit 2026 in New Delhi marking the first global AI convening hosted in the Global South. Themed "Sarvajan Hitay, Sarvajan Sukhaye" (Welfare for All, Happiness for All), the summit unites world leaders and tech stakeholders around inclusive, human-centric AI. Modi highlighted AI's transformative role across healthcare, education, agriculture, and heritage preservation, linking it directly to India's Viksit Bharat 2047 vision. He also announced robust safety frameworks including AI watermarking rules and the IndiaAI Safety Institute, stressing that human oversight must always govern AI decision-making.

India is providing 33% more data to ChatGPT than the United States, former NITI Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant said at the AI Summit 2026 in New Delhi. Speaking on Day 2 of the event, Kant said India plays a key role in the global AI space. He stressed that artificial intelligence must not create inequality. He warned that AI could lead to an unequal society if benefits are limited to a few. Kant said strong Digital Public Infrastructure is needed to ensure inclusive growth. He added that AI will create new jobs and improve sectors like healthcare and public services.

Social media platform X faced a widespread outage on Monday, with users across India and several other countries reporting access issues. Many said the app failed to load feeds, searches, and posts. Outage tracker Downdetector showed 3,357 reports from India around 7:30 pm IST. Globally, more than 42,000 users flagged problems, including in the United States and the UK. Downdetector data showed 53 per cent users had trouble with the app, 22 per cent could not refresh feeds, and 16 per cent faced website errors. The Elon Musk-owned platform did not issue an immediate statement. The cause of the disruption was not confirmed. (PC: HT)

Arinox AI and KOGO have introduced what they call India’s first sovereign “AI in a box” system for enterprises at the AI Impact Summit 2026. The product, named CommandCORE, is built to run AI locally without internet dependence. The companies say this helps protect sensitive data and reduce cloud costs. The system uses Nvidia hardware and supports agent-based AI tools for business tasks. “The future of AI is private,” said KOGO CEO Raj K Gopalakrishnan. He added that firms must keep their intelligence in-house. Pricing starts at ₹10 lakh and targets sectors like banking, government and defence. (PC: HT)