FEBRUARY 2026
AI Safety Connect at the India AI Impact Summit 2026
February 2026 | New Delhi, India
AI Safety Connect convened over 600 senior leaders across three events during the India AI Impact Summit, the first major global AI summit hosted in the Global South. Programming addressed how middle powers and Global Majority states can move from inheriting AI safety standards to actively shaping them, and how industry, governments, and civil society can close the coordination gap in frontier AI safety.
PAST EVENT
AI Safety Connect Day | Wednesday 18 February, The Imperial Hotel, New Delhi
AI Safety Connect Day brought together approximately 250 senior stakeholders from governments, international organisations, frontier AI companies, civil society, and academia for a full day of panels, workshops, and live demonstrations of AI safety tools.
Netherlands Prime Minister Dick Schoof delivered a special address on the role of middle powers in AI governance. The programme also featured contributions from Turing Award laureate Yoshua Bengio, former India G20 Sherpa Amitabh Kant, Lucilla Sioli (Director, European AI Office), Eileen Donahoe (Sympatico Ventures), Andrew Forrest (Minderoo Foundation), and Stuart Russell (IASEAI), alongside senior representatives from Microsoft, Google DeepMind, Amazon Web Services, the OECD, UNESCO, the Partnership on AI, and the Frontier Model Forum.
Nine panel sessions explored: the trajectory of frontier AI systems, the global AI risk agenda, loss of control scenarios, industry safety efforts, middle powers and AI governance, India's approach to AI, and cross-border coordination mechanisms. Parallel workshop tracks addressed AI risk modelling and red lines for AI, while a dedicated demonstration room showcased practical AI safety tools and solutions.
AI Safety Connect Day was co-hosted with the International Association for Safe and Ethical AI (IASEAI) and supported by Minderoo Foundation, Future of Life Institute, Sympatico, and the AI Safety Tactical Opportunities Fund.
PAST EVENT
Shared Responsibility: Industry and the Future of AI Safety | Thursday 19 February, The Imperial Hotel, New Delhi
Co-hosted with DGA Group, this evening programme convened senior industry leaders for focused panel discussions on how the private sector can help shape frontier AI safety practices, norms, and standards.
The event took place hours after India's Minister of Electronics and IT unveiled the New Delhi Frontier AI Commitments at the main Summit. Opening remarks from Honourable Minister Shri Duddilla Sridhar Babu and Shri Sanjay Kumar of Telangana positioned India's states as active participants in building AI governance infrastructure.
Panel 1, Deciding at the Frontier, explored how advanced AI systems are deployed and governed in practice, featuring senior leaders from ServiceNow, Mastercard, and Google DeepMind. It was moderated by Amlan Mohanty (Carnegie India).
Panel 2, Governing Frontier AI for Secure Deployment, addressed interoperable standards in a fragmented regulatory landscape, with representatives from Anthropic, Microsoft, Amazon Web Services, the Frontier Model Forum, and the U.S. Center for AI Standards and Innovation. It was moderated by Paul Triolo (DGA Group).
The programme was followed by an evening reception.
PAST EVENT
International AI Safety Coordination: What Policymakers Need to Know | Friday 20 February, Bharat Mandapam, Room 6, New Delhi
AI Safety Connect's final event was an official session within the India AI Impact Summit programme, providing a ministerial-level briefing on where coordination on frontier AI safety is most urgently needed and what policymakers should prioritise now.
Moderated by Dr Eileen Donahoe (Sympatico Ventures, former US Special Envoy for Digital Freedom), the panel brought together OECD Secretary-General Mathias Cormann, Singapore Minister for Digital Development and Information Josephine Teo, Malaysia Minister of Digital Gobind Singh Deo, World Bank Vice-President for Digital and AI Sangbu Kim, and Jaan Tallinn (Skype, Future of Life Institute).
Opening remarks from Professor Stuart Russell (IASEAI) and closing reflections from Osama Manzar (Digital Empowerment Foundation).
Co-organised with the International Association for Safe and Ethical AI (IASEAI) and the Digital Empowerment Foundation (DEF). The session contributed to the India AI Impact Summit's Chakra 3 (Safe and Trusted AI) and Chakra 6 (Democratising AI Resources).
Watch the full session here
These events featured the following speakers:
Supported by Minderoo Foundation, the Future of Life Institute, Sympatico, and AISTOF, these events will help us advance our mission: strengthening the channels for coordination before a crisis forces our hand.
