In a historic gathering at the Bharat Mandapam in February 2026, the global conversation around Artificial Intelligence shifted from “if” we should regulate it to “how” we can share its power. The AI Impact Summit 2026 concluded with the adoption of the New Delhi Declaration, a massive diplomatic breakthrough endorsed by 88 countries and international organizations.
While the media has buzzed about “AI robots,” the pact actually goes much deeper, targeting the very brains behind the machines. From the United States and China to the European Union and emerging nations like Bhutan and Suriname, the world has finally agreed on a roadmap for the “Age of Autonomy.”
The Seven Pillars: The “Chakras” of Global AI
The New Delhi Declaration isn’t just a list of rules; it’s a vision built on seven foundational pillars, or Chakras, designed to ensure that AI serves humanity rather than dominating it.
| Pillar | Focus Area |
| Democratizing AI | Breaking the “algorithm hegemony” of tech giants to make AI resources affordable for all. |
| Economic & Social Good | Using AI to solve real-world problems like poverty and healthcare. |
| Secure & Trusted AI | Creating benchmarks and tools to prevent deepfakes and biased algorithms. |
| AI for Science | A global network to pool research for scientific breakthroughs. |
| Social Empowerment | Ensuring AI doesn’t leave marginalized communities behind. |
| Human Capital | Massive reskilling programs to prepare the workforce for automation. |
| Resilient AI | Focusing on energy-efficient and sustainable AI infrastructure. |
Why the World Finally Came Together
For years, AI governance was split. The West focused on safety and regulation, while the East focused on industrial scale. The New Delhi Declaration, rooted in the Indian principle of “Sarvajan Hitaya, Sarvajan Sukhaya” (Welfare for all, Happiness for all), acted as a bridge.
1. The End of the “Digital Raj”
A major theme of the summit was Sovereign AI. Developing nations argued that they should not just be “consumers” of AI built in Silicon Valley or Beijing. The pact includes a Charter for the Democratic Diffusion of AI, which aims to provide smaller countries with the compute power and data resources to build their own local models.
2. Controlling the “Robots”
While we aren’t seeing a “Robocop” style enforcement agency yet, the pact establishes the Trusted AI Commons. This is a shared repository of tools and “kill switches” for autonomous systems. If a Level-4 autonomous delivery robot (like the Ottobots showcased at the summit) or a complex industrial AI starts behaving unpredictably, there are now international standards for how they should be audited and controlled.
3. The Energy Crisis
AI has a massive appetite for electricity. The signatories acknowledged that uncontrolled AI growth could wreck climate goals. The declaration includes Guiding Principles on Resilient & Efficient AI, pushing companies to develop “Green AI” that uses less power.
Is it Binding?
Here is the catch: the New Delhi Declaration is non-binding. It relies on “voluntary frameworks.” Critics, including some who protested at the summit, argue that without a global enforcement body, big tech corporations might still ignore these rules.
However, the fact that geopolitical rivals like the US, China, and Russia all signed the same document is a significant signal. It creates a “Global AI Impact Commons”—a platform where countries can hold each other accountable and share successful, ethical AI use cases.
“The choices we make today will shape the AI-enabled world that future generations will inherit.” — Extract from the New Delhi Declaration.
What’s Next?
The summit has positioned India as a key architect of the new digital order. Moving forward, we expect to see:
- New National Institutions: Many countries will now set up “AI Safety Institutes” based on the New Delhi model.
- Workforce Playbooks: Governments will begin rolling out the “AI Workforce Development Playbook” to help citizens who are at risk of losing jobs to automation.
The New Delhi Declaration may not have solved every ethical dilemma of the robot age, but it has officially ended the “Wild West” era of AI development.