Meta’s chief AI officer Alexandr Wang on Wednesday described India as a “very positive case stuff”, highlighting the country’s growing role as a global powerhouse in artificial intelligence.
An MIT dropout, Wang co-founded Scale AI in 2016 and led the company for nearly a decade before he was appointed to a senior position at tech giant Meta last year.
The 29-year-old executive attributed India’s growth to the vast talent pool and a rapidly expanding startup ecosystem, news agency ANI reported, as the ongoing AI Summit in the national capital is bringing global leaders together.
Wang was speaking at the ‘Governing in the Age of AI: Sovereignty, Impact and Strategy’ event in New Delhi, where he shared insights from his interactions with local entrepreneurs, stating that India is currently outperforming traditional tech hubs in specific AI sectors.
“I think India is a very positive case study, in large part due to the talent pool. I was at a dinner with a number of Indian founders and venture capitalists last night, and the statistic was that there are more consumer AI startups in India than in the United States,” Wang said during the event.
Growth in India’s tech landscape
The Meta executive further highlighted the rapid development of the Indian tech ecosystem, pointing to the high concentration of innovation within the country’s borders. “There really are some of these shining examples of incredible development of these ecosystems,” he added.
These remarks were made during a fireside chat with former UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, held on the sidelines of the ongoing India AI Impact Summit 2026, according to ANI.
All about the AI summit
The summit, which is scheduled to continue until 20 February, has brought together government policymakers, industry AI experts, academicians, and civil society representatives from across the world to advance global discussions on the technology.
Some notable attendees include Google CEO Sundar Pichai, OpenAI’s Sam Altman, Reliance Industries Chairman and MD Mukesh D Ambani, Bill Gates, among several other company leaders.
The event is being held across 10 arenas covering more than 70,000 sq mt with 13 country pavilions highlighting international collaboration in the AI ecosystem. Participants include delegates from Australia, Estonia, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia, Serbia, Switzerland, Tajikistan, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, and African nations.
More than 700 sessions have been planned across the summit’s duration, which will cover themes such as AI safety, governance, ethics, data protection, sovereign AI capabilities and the future of work.
The five-day summit, inaugurated by PM Narendra Modi, is being promoted as the first major international AI meeting hosted in the Global South. As the hype around the event builds, participants have complained about long queues, overcrowding and confusion at the venue.
