Prime Minister Narendra Modi today took to the stage at the India AI Impact Summit 2026 in New Delhi to unveil India’s MANAV vision for artificial intelligence, calling for technology that is powerful but firmly anchored in human welfare, ethics and sovereignty.
Addressing global leaders, CEOs and researchers, the PM said India is both a builder of new technologies and a fast adopter, and now wants to shape how AI is governed worldwide.
What MANAV vision means
Modi said MANA—the Hindi word for “human”—is also an acronym that captures India’s five core principles for AI: Moral and ethical systems, Accountable governance, National sovereignty (especially data rights), Accessible and inclusive technology, and Valid, legitimate AI systems that people can trust.
The benchmark for AI, he stressed, must be the welfare and happiness of all, echoing the summit’s theme of “Sarvajana Hitaya, Sarvajana Sukhaya”.
Calling AI a historic transformation comparable to the invention of wireless communication, Modi argued that the real question is not what AI might do decades from now, but what we can do with AI in the present to expand human capabilities.
India sees the future in AI, stressed the Prime Minister, as he said he believes that any model that succeeds in India’s scale and diversity can be deployed anywhere in the world.
Democratise AI, guard against deepfakes
Modi also used the stage to underline that AI must be democratised and treated as a global common good rather than a tool controlled by a few platforms or countries.
It should become a vehicle for inclusion and empowerment, particularly for the Global South, and not reduce people to mere data points or raw material, he warned.
AI is a transformative power that can lead to solutions or destruction depending on how it is used. Societies must give an open sky to AI, but keep the reins in our hands, he said.
Deepfakes and fabricated content threaten to destabilise open societies by spreading misinformation at scale, echoing earlier warnings he has made on AI-generated videos and synthetic media, PM Modi cautioned.
To counter this, the Prime Minister pitched for authenticity labels on AI-generated content—similar to nutrition labels on food packets or health warnings on cigarettes—so people know when an image, video or clip has been created or altered by AI. He linked this to ongoing Indian proposals that would require platforms to clearly tag synthetically generated information.
