Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi called on the international community to shape a “human-centred” future of artificial intelligence and unveiled the MANAV framework for global AI governance during the AI Impact 2026 summit in New Delhi.
According to Modi, AI has the potential to accelerate change on a scale that was previously measured in decades, so an approach where technology serves humans rather than the other way around, and where the well-being of society is at the centre, is key.
Within India’s proposed MANAV (meaning human) framework, the prime minister outlined five pillars: moral and ethical foundations, accountable governance, respect for national sovereignty over data, accessibility and inclusivity, and legality and verifiability of AI systems.
Separately, Modi stressed the need to counter dipfakes and misinformation, suggesting the introduction of common standards for labelling digital content, such as watermarks and verification of source of origin, and stressed the importance of protecting children when interacting with AI.
As examples of practical applications of AI in India, he cited Sarlaben, a digital assistant for farmers, which he said provides advice on livestock health and dairy productivity, as well as initiatives for multilingual advice to agrarians, such as Bharat-VISTAAR.
The Prime Minister also said that under the India AI Mission, India is deploying computational infrastructure and a National Repository of Data and Models to make it cheaper for startups to access capacity and accelerate the development of the AI ecosystem.
Full version of Modi’s address