"India Built What No Other Country Can": France's Macron At AI Impact Summit

France President Emmanuel Macron began his address at the India AI Impact Summit Thursday morning with a 'namaste' and praise for India for having "built what no other country can".

He illustrated his point by referring to a roadside vendor in Mumbai - one of crores of Indians battling the ghost of poverty almost daily - and how his life had been transformed by the rapid spread and adoption of a digital payments system, the Unified Payments Interface, or UPI.

"10 years ago, a street vendor in Mumbai could not open a bank account," Macron began, "No address, no papers, no access... but today that same vendor accepts payments on his phone."

"That is not a technology story," he said, "That is a civilisational story."

At a five-day summit involving business leaders, innovators, and policymakers from the rapidly evolving world of Artificial Intelligence, a technology that could change human history, he hailed India's progress in adopting and, more importantly, democratising AI know-how.

"India built something no other country in the world can... a digital identity for 1.4 billion people, a payment system that now processes 20 billion transactions every month, a health infrastructure that has issued 500 million digital health IDs..." the French President said.

#WATCH | Delhi: At the #IndiaAIImpactSummit2026, French President Emmanuel Macron says, "I started with a story about a street vendor in Mumbai. Ten years ago, the world told India that 1.4 billion people could not be brought into the digital economy. India proved them wrong.… pic.twitter.com/klKt5G1ans

— ANI (@ANI) February 19, 2026

"Here are the results. They call it the India Stack Open Interoperable Sovereign. That is what this summit is about. We are clearly at the beginning of a huge acceleration, and you perfectly described it during your interventions..." he said, addressing Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Macron also said India had proven the world wrong.

"Ten years ago, the world said 1.4 billion people could not be brought into the digital economy. India proved them wrong. And today, some say AI is a game only the biggest can play..."

The belief that meaningful AI innovation and advances can only be possible if the 'biggest', i.e., global tech giants and the richest countries, Macron also argued, is not the way forward.

He echoed Prime Minister Modi's comments from Monday - that the theme of this summit reflects India's shared commitment to harnessing AI for human-centric progress.

"India and France, with Europe and our partners, those who believe in our approach... might have a different way... the future of AI will be built by those who combine innovation and responsibility, technology with humanity, and India and France will help shape this future."

The point of this summit, he continued, was to change the discussion around Artificial Intelligence from 'let's do more' to 'let's do better together', underlining the need for a global shift in the narrative around this disruptive, and potentially dangerous, technology.

#WATCH | Delhi: At the #IndiaAIImpactSummit2026, French President Emmanuel Macron says, "Now, the point of this summit was not only to say, let's do more, it was to say, let's do better together. AI may be a powerful accelerator of productivity and a major shift for labour… pic.twitter.com/WHHpb2TS2o

— ANI (@ANI) February 19, 2026

"This is why access to AI for all is critical," he said, "France and India share a common vision - a sovereign AI to protect our planet and foster prosperity for all. Last year, in Paris, we called it action. This year, in Delhi, we call it impact. But the real name is simpler - AI together."

The theme of the six-day summit, which began Monday, is 'sarvajan hitaya, sarvajan sukhaya", which means 'welfare for all, happiness of all'. It is the fourth annual international gathering focused on AI, following meetings in the UK in 2023, South Korea in 2024, and France in 2025.

The India AI Impact Summit is also the biggest one yet, having brought together over 20 heads of states and 500+ global AI leaders, including around 100 CEOs and founders.

OpenAI's Sam Altman, Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei, Google boss Sundar Pichai and Google DeepMind head Demis Hassabis, as well as Adobe's Shantanu Narayen, and Wipro Executive Chairman Rishad Premji are among those in the audience this morning.