Artificial Intelligence governance has emerged as a defining challenge of the decade, with successive multilateral summits attempting to balance innovation imperatives against safety, equity, and sovereignty concerns.
The AI safety summit process began at Bletchley Park in 2023, establishing foundational consensus on frontier AI risks. The Seoul Summit in 2024 advanced commitments on safety testing and international cooperation. The Paris AI Action Summit in February 2025 at Grand Palais deepened this trajectory by shifting focus toward inclusive and sustainable AI development, not merely safety.
India's co-chairmanship of the Paris Summit signals its emergence as a norm-shaping actor in global technology governance. It reinforces India's Digital Public Infrastructure model as a template for inclusive AI deployment in the Global South. This positioning strengthens India's voice in multilateral forums such as the G20 and the UN AI Advisory Body.
Notably, the United States and the United Kingdom did not sign the declaration on inclusive and sustainable AI, reflecting divergent priorities around regulatory approaches and competitive concerns over frontier AI development. This abstention underscores the tension between safety-focused multilateralism and national strategic interests in AI leadership.
India must leverage its co-chair status to advocate for differentiated responsibilities, ensuring that AI governance frameworks do not entrench technological asymmetries. Domestically, aligning emerging AI policy with internationally agreed principles will be critical for credibility and interoperability.
Global AI governance remains contested terrain where safety, equity, and strategic competition intersect. India's active co-chairmanship offers an opportunity to anchor frameworks that serve both developmental aspirations and responsible innovation imperatives.
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