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AI Impact Summit Day 1 Roundup: PM Modi Inaugurates AI Expo, Announcements and More

AI Impact Summit Day 1 Roundup: PM Modi Inaugurates AI Expo, Announcements and More

On Monday, February 16, India’s inaugural AI Impact Summit kicked off.

Written by Akash Dutta, Edited by Ketan Pratap | Updated: 16 February 2026 23:53 IST

AI Impact Summit Day 1 Roundup: PM Modi Inaugurates AI Expo, Announcements and More

Photo Credit: X/@narendramodi

The AI Impact Summit 2026 will continue till Friday, February 20

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Highlights

PM Modi inaugurated the AI Expo at 5pm
JP Nadda to announce major AI initiatives tomorrow
Anthropic opened its first Indian office in Bengaluru

India's inaugural AI Impact Summit kicked off on Monday, February 16. The official summit will be officially inaugurated on February 19; however, Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the AI expo, which is currently taking place, today. While no major announcements were made on day one, the Union Minister of Health and Family Welfare, JP Nadda, highlighted that two health-focused AI announcements will be made on Tuesday. Here's a quick rundown on everything that happened on the first day of the AI Impact Summit.

PM Modi Inaugurates AI Expo

The biggest highlight of the first day of the AI Impact Summit was the inauguration of the AI Expo. The AI Expo is one of the biggest attractions of the event, where hundreds of companies, institutions, and industry stakeholders showcase their AI innovations for visitors and members of the media. OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, NeoSapnies, and others are some of the companies hosting booths at the event.

In a post on X (formerly known as Twitter), PM Modi said, “Inaugurated the India AI Impact Expo 2026 at Bharat Mandapam. Being here among innovators, researchers and tech enthusiasts gives a glimpse of the extraordinary potential of AI, Indian talent and innovation. Together, we will shape solutions not just for India but for the world!”

Anthropic’s First Indian Office in Bengaluru Is Now Open

Two Health AI Announcements Teased

The Union Minister of Health and Family Welfare, JP Nadda, will launch two key AI initiatives tomorrow. First is the Strategy for Artificial Intelligence in Healthcare for India (SAHI), and the second is the Benchmarking Open Data Platform for Health AI (BODH).

SAHI serves as India's national blueprint for integrating AI into healthcare safely and ethically. It provides a strategic roadmap for governance, data management, and deployment, ensuring that AI adoption remains inclusive and aligned with the country's public health goals.

Complementing this framework is BODH, a privacy-first benchmarking platform co-developed by IIT Kanpur and the National Health Authority. As a digital public good under the Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission (ABDM), BODH enables rigorous testing of AI models on real-world data without compromising patient confidentiality.

Anthropic Opens New Office in Bengaluru

At the sidelines of the event, Anthropic announced its first Indian office in Bengaluru. Marking the second office in Asia-Pacific after Tokyo, the new office will serve as the company's nerve centre in the country and handle all consumer-facing and enterprise operations. Interestingly, the AI giant also highlighted that India is its second-largest market when it comes to Claude usage.

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Further reading: AI Impact Summit 2026, AI Impact Summit, India, PM Modi, AI, Artificial Intelligence

Akash Dutta Email Akash Dutta

Akash Dutta is a Chief Sub Editor at Gadgets 360. He is particularly interested in the social impact of technological developments and loves reading about emerging fields such as AI, metaverse, and fediverse. In his free time, he can be seen supporting his favourite football club - Chelsea, watching movies and anime, and sharing passionate opinions on food. More