NEW DELHI: As New Delhi prepares to host the AI Impact Summit 2026, the guest list itself signals the scale of ambition. Heads of state from Europe, Latin America, Africa and South Asia are expected to share the stage with some of the most influential technology executives in the world — underscoring how artificial intelligence has moved from a technical domain to the centre of geopolitics, trade and development.
With participation from more than 100 countries and around 20 heads of state, the summit is being positioned not merely as a policy forum, but as a defining moment in shaping the global AI agenda.
A Gathering of Global Tech Leadership
The summit has drawn attention for its roster of corporate leaders expected to attend. Among them are:
- Sam Altman — CEO, OpenAI
- Sundar Pichai — CEO, Google & Alphabet
- Dario Amodei — CEO, Anthropic
- Sir Demis Hassabis — Co-founder & CEO, Google DeepMind
- Arthur Mensch — Co-founder & CEO, Mistral AI
- Matthew Prince — CEO, Cloudflare
- Richard Marko — CEO, ESET
- Julie Sweet — Chair & CEO, Accenture
- Martin Schroeter — Chairman & CEO, Kyndryl
- Sanjay Mehrotra — Chairman, President & CEO, Micron
- Shantanu Narayen — Chair & CEO, Adobe
- Borje Ekholm — President & CEO, Ericsson Group
- C Vijayakumar — CEO & Managing Director, HCLTech
- Giordano (Gio) Albertazzi — CEO, Vertiv
- J. Trevor Hughes — President & CEO, IAPP
- Jay Chaudhry — CEO, Chairman & Founder, Zscaler
- Olivier Blum — CEO, Schneider Electric
- Jeff (Jeffrey) Shapiro — CEO, Scanline VFX
- Jorge Solis — CEO, Soufflet Malt
Indian Tech & Startup Leaders
- Salil Parekh — CEO & MD, Infosys
- Vijay Shekhar Sharma — Founder & CEO, Paytm
- Harshil Mathur — CEO & Co-Founder, Razorpay
- Naveen Tewari — Founder & CEO, InMobi
- Raj Koneru — CEO, Kore.ai
- Sameer Jain — Founder & CEO, Net Solutions
- Navrina Singh — Founder & CEO, Credo AI
- Hemant Taneja — CEO, General Catalyst
- Umesh Sachdev — CEO & Co-Founder, Uniphore
- Vishal Sikka — Founder & CEO, Vianai Systems
- Arundhati Bhattacharya — Chairperson & CEO, Salesforce India
- Bipul Sinha — CEO, Chairman & Co-Founder, Rubrik
- Aparna Bawa — COO, Zoom
Additional International Leaders
- Amanda Brock — CEO, OpenUK
- Anastasia Stasenko — Co-Founder & CEO, Pleias
- Anna Tumadóttir — CEO, Creative Commons
- Vivek Mahajan — CTO, Fujitsu Limited
A Diplomatic Signal
More than 100 countries and around 20 heads of state are expected to participate, according to officials. The scale suggests that AI has become a defining axis of global diplomacy, comparable in strategic weight to trade or climate policy. Leaders Attending the AI Impact Summit 2026 are:
- Sri Lanka – Anura Kumara Disanayaka, President
- Seychelles – Sebastien Pillay, Vice President
- Switzerland – Guy Parmelin, President
- The Netherlands – Dick Schoof, Prime Minister
- United Arab Emirates (UAE) – Sheikh Khaled bin Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi
- Bhutan – Tshering Tobgay, Prime Minister
- Bolivia – Edmundo Lara Montano, Vice President
- Brazil – Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, President
- Croatia – Andrej Plenković, Prime Minister
- Estonia – Alar Karis, President
- Finland – Petteri Orpo, Prime Minister
- France – Emmanuel Macron, President
- Greece – Kyriakos Mitsotakis, Prime Minister
- Guyana – Dr. Bharrat Jagdeo, Vice President
- Kazakhstan – Olzhas Bektenov, Prime Minister
- Liechtenstein – Hereditary Prince Alois
- Mauritius – Dr. Navinchandra Ramgoolam, Prime Minister
- Serbia – Aleksandar Vučić, President
- Slovakia – Peter Pellegrini, President
- Spain – Pedro Sánchez Pérez-Castejón, President
Alongside them, ministerial delegations from over 45 countries, the UN Secretary General, and senior international organisation officials are also expected to participate.
Whether the summit produces binding frameworks or remains a platform for dialogue, its significance lies in the coalition it brings together. By convening regulatory architects from Europe, development advocates from the Global South and corporate leaders controlling much of the AI infrastructure stack, New Delhi is positioning itself as a bridge between competing visions of the AI future.
FCRF’s Security Lens: AI for Secure India
Amid the high-level discourse on compute and governance, cybersecurity remains a central concern — and it is here that the Future Crime Research Foundation (FCRF) emerges prominently as a Knowledge Partner.
FCRF will host a dedicated session titled: “AI for Secure India: Combating AI-Enabled Cybercrime, Deepfakes, Darkweb Threats and Data Breaches.”
Date: 17 February 2026
Time: 2:30 PM – 3:30 PM
Venue: Bharat Mandapam, L1 Meeting Room No. 15
The session will be moderated by Prof. Triveni Singh, former IPS officer and Chief Mentor at FCRF, and will bring together a panel of legal, industry and cybersecurity experts, including:
- Rakesh Maheshwari, Cyber Law & Data Governance Expert
- Senior Advocate Vivek Sood, Supreme Court of India
- Tarun Wig, Co-Founder & CEO, Innefu Labs
- Dr. Sapna Bansal, Shri Ram College of Commerce, University of Delhi
- Navneethan M., Senior Vice President & Chief Information Security Officer
The focus is unambiguous: artificial intelligence has become both a catalyst for economic acceleration and a multiplier of cyber risk. From AI-generated deepfakes and automated phishing ecosystems to dark web marketplaces leveraging machine learning, the threat landscape has grown more algorithmic and less predictable.
By placing this session within the summit’s core programming, FCRF reinforces a central message — that security must be embedded into AI systems from inception, not retrofitted after disruption.
Interested participants can register for the FCRF session through the following link: https://impact.indiaai.gov.in/registration
