India AI Impact Summit 2026 Day 3 ended on a high, cementing India’s position as a global leader in “Responsible AI”, marked by a historic world record and massive investment commitments from the world’s largest tech companies, including Google, Microsoft, ChatGPT-maker OpenAI and others. From subsea data cables to “Agentic” payment frameworks, the summit at Bharat Mandapam has now become the epicenter of the global AI conversation. Here are the major headlines from the Day 3 of the South Asia’s biggest AI event.
India gets Guinness World Records title for maximum pledges in 24 hours
IT minister Ashwini Vaishnaw announced that India has successfully achieved the Guinness World Records title for the “Most pledges received for an AI responsibility campaign in 24 hours,” with a staggering 250,946 valid pledges received during the 24-hour period from February 16–17.
“It is Prime Minister Nareandra Modi’s vision that inspired us to reach out to colleges, engage with faculty members, and encourage students to take this pledge to use AI as a tool for the good of society — as a technology that improves our lives — and to ensure it is used responsibly. This is truly a proud day for the country. This is the direction in which the nation must move — towards a future where AI is embraced with responsibility,” Vaishnaw said.
“Honoured to partner with the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology and the IndiaAI in achieving a GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS for the “Most pledges received for an AI Responsibility campaign in 24 hours”. Seeing lakhs of citizens, especially students, come together to pledge responsible AI use shows that India’s AI future will be built not just on innovation, but on trust,” Intel said in a post on LinkedIn.
Google announces America-India Connect initiative
Google made multiple announcements, including America-India Connect, an initiative to connect US, India and multiple locations across the Southern Hemisphere.
As leaders gather this week for the AI Impact Summit in India, we’re announcing new partnerships and programs to accelerate progress in improving the lives of people globally, including:
-The America-India Connect initiative, which will deliver new strategic fiber-optic routes to increase digital connectivity between the U.S.,
India and multiple locations across the Southern Hemisphere.
-A $30 million @GoogleOrg AI for Government Innovation Impact Challenge to support organizations globally that are transforming public services using AI.
-A $30 million @GoogleOrg AI for Science Impact Challenge to support researchers globally who are using AI to drive scientific breakthroughs.
-A @GoogleDeepMind partnership with Indian government bodies and local institutions focused on science and education, as part of Google DeepMind’s broader National Partnerships for AI initiative — working with governments to broaden access to frontier AI capabilities for national priorities.
-A partnership with Karmayogi Bharat to accelerate Mission Karmayogi’s vision of building a future-ready civil service.
-Plus, updates to our products, including our new live speech-to-speech translation model, new self-study features and JEE Main practice tests in the @GeminiApp for students in India and more.
Microsoft commits $50 billion by 2030 for ‘Global South’
Microsoft said that it is on pace to invest $50 billion by the end of the decade to help expand AI to countries across the ‘Global South’, which is developing, emerging or lower-income countries, mostly in the southern hemisphere. Notably, Microsoft unveiled $17. 5 billion worth of AI investments in India last year, as the US tech giant deepened its bet on one of the world’s fastest-growing digital markets.
OpenAI partner with India’s leading universities to build AI-ready talent
Microsoft’s partner OpenAI announced the first cohort of higher education institutions in India, with whom it is collaborating to mark a step toward strengthening AI use among students. The effort is aimed at addressing management, health, engineering, creative fields, and multidisciplinary education across universities, the effort is designed to strengthen national capability for an AI-driven economy.
This initiative focuses on helping students, as well as faculty and staff, use AI to deepen learning, think critically, and create. This happens by integrating AI systematically across academic institutions – anchored in responsible use and academic integrity.
The top universities in the initiative include Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad, All India Institute of Medical Sciences New Delhi, Manipal Academy of Higher Education, University of Petroleum and Energy Studies (UPES), and Pearl Academy.
Together, the initiative will support more than 100,000 students, faculty, and staff over the coming year.
Yotta Data Services to spend $2 billion on Nvidia chips
Yotta Data Services announced that it will spend over $2 billion on Nvidia’s latest chips to set up an AI computing hub, delivering a boost to the country’s fledgling AI drive. Yotta is aiming to raise up to $1. 2 billion from investors to fund its expansion ahead of an initial public offering (IPO), potentially due to happen as soon as this year.
