India calls for democratic diffusion of AI at New Delhi summit

India has unveiled the AI Impact Summit Declaration at the conclusion of the AI Impact Summit held in the capital on February 16-20, laying out a voluntary, non-binding framework for global cooperation on artificial intelligence.

Released on Saturday, the declaration inspired by the principle of “Sarvajan Hitaya, Sarvajan Sukhaya” (welfare for all, happiness for all) positions AI as a transformative inflection point and urges countries to shape its trajectory through international collaboration and multi stakeholder engagement.

Participants from several countries and international organisations endorsed cooperation across seven pillars, or “Chakras”: human capital development, social empowerment, trustworthy AI systems, energy efficiency, AI for science, democratising AI resources, and AI for economic growth and social good.


A central theme is widening access to foundational AI infrastructure. The declaration takes note of the proposed Charter for the Democratic Diffusion of AI, aimed at improving affordability and access to compute, data and tools, particularly for developing nations, while respecting national laws and sovereignty.

On economic development, the document highlights the potential of open-source AI and scalable use cases to accelerate adoption across sectors. It references the Global AI Impact Commons as a voluntary platform to replicate successful AI applications across regions.

The declaration also underscores the importance of secure and trusted AI, backing industry-led voluntary measures, technical safeguards and policy frameworks that balance innovation with public interest. It takes note of the Trusted AI Commons, a collaborative repository of tools, benchmarks and best practices.

Additional initiatives include an International Network of AI for Science Institutions, guiding principles for AI workforce reskilling, and voluntary playbooks on resilient and energy-efficient AI infrastructure.