Will India’s success with population-scale digital infrastructure translate to AI

India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi believes the next frontier of inclusive digital development is to be found in the convergence of AI and digital public infrastructure (DPI).

Modi made his comments at the recent India AI Impact Summit 2026, which hosted leaders from around the globe to discuss coordination on developments in AI innovation and policy. They heard about India’s efforts to position itself as the world leader in DPI, through its Aadhaar national digital identity scheme and comprehensive approach across the five layers of the AI stack: applications, models, compute, talent, and energy.

Modi framed India as a future global AI hub and emphasized the importance of AI ambitions to India’s existing digital public infrastructure. “India’s DPI journey offers crucial and practical lessons for the Global South,” said Modi, according to his keynote presentation. “Our success with Aadhaar, UPI and other digital public goods was not accidental. It stemmed from a few replicable principles.”

“AI can improve welfare targeting, strengthen fraud detection, enable predictive maintenance of infrastructure, support urban planning, and enhance transparency in public systems. We understand the importance of robust digital infrastructure, strong data privacy protections, thoughtful regulatory frameworks and AI literacy across society.”

Modi’s overarching message was that AI at population scale requires population-scale digital infrastructure – and India already has it.

UN chief calls for AI grounded in human dignity

António Guterres, Secretary-General of the United Nations, used his speech at the AI Impact Summit to call for “guardrails that preserve human agency.”

“The future of AI cannot be decided by a handful of countries or left to the whims of a few billionaires. We need guardrails that preserve human agency, human oversight and human accountability. AI must be accessible to everyone. That is why I am calling for a Global Fund on AI to build basic capacity in developing countries. Real impact means technology that improves lives and protects the planet, so let’s build AI for everyone, with dignity as the default setting.”

A keynote from French President Emmanuel Macron highlighted complementary paths taken by India and Europe in developing the digital infrastructure of the future. “The smartest AI is not the most expensive. It is the one built by the best people and for the right purpose,” Macron says.

“This is where the Indian model is truly revolutionary, providing solutions for everyone in the country from 200 million Indian farmers in their own dialect to travel advice for 400 million pilgrims or AI diagnostics for rural clinics all running on India’s digital public infrastructure open rails at near zero cost.”

“The future of AI will be built by those who combine innovation and responsibility, technology with humanity,” he added. “No country is bound to serve only as a market where foreign companies sell models and download citizens’ data.”

Article Topics

Aadhaar  |  AI  |  digital ID  |  digital public infrastructure  |  India  |  research and development