AI Impact Summit 2026: Amitabh Kant calls for multilingual, inclusive AI to benefit Global South

Amitabh Kant, former G20 Sherpa and ex-CEO of NITI Aayog, on Tuesday said artificial intelligence (AI) must be multilingual and inclusive to ensure it transforms lives across the Global South rather than deepening existing inequalities. 

Speaking at a panel discussion titled “AI for India’s Next Billion: Intergenerational Insights for Inclusive and Future-Ready Growth” at the ongoing India AI Impact Summit 2026 in New Delhi, Kant stressed that AI systems should be accessible, affordable, and accountable to drive broad-based and equitable development. 

AI and the risk of inequality 

Kant said the fast pace of AI development and the large investments flowing into the sector could create major disruptions and even lead to a highly unequal society. 

“The challenge is whether we can ensure that AI reaches the population which is below the poverty line, whether it can be used to transform the lives of citizens in the Global South and whether it can be used to improve learning, health outcomes, and nutritional standards,” he said. 

He cautioned that if AI is not designed to benefit people below the poverty line, existing gaps in income and opportunity could widen further. He added that AI should be used to improve education and learning outcomes, noting that many things that were not physically possible earlier can now be achieved with the help of technology. 

Global South should build its own LLMs 

He underlined that AI systems must reflect India’s and the world’s linguistic diversity. “If AI is not multilingual, it will cut out a large section of the population,” he said while adding that the growing role of India and other Global South countries in providing data to train large language models. According to him, India currently provides 33% more data than the United States. 

Kant said these models are improving on the basis of data from the Global South and warned that big technology firms could build business models using such data and later sell AI products at high prices. He argued that India and other developing nations should build their own models using their own data to ensure fair benefits. 

Lessons from digital public infrastructure 

Referring to India’s digital public infrastructure journey, Kant said the country was able to leapfrog decades of progress through open and interoperable systems. He noted that open application programming interfaces and global interoperability helped drive innovation in fast payments, stock market transactions, insurance and last-mile credit delivery. On this foundation, the private sector was allowed to innovate and compete. 

Kant suggested that a similar approach be adopted for AI, with a digital public identity layer on top of which private players can build products and services. 

As AI adoption gathers pace, he said it is important that the technology improves the lives of people in the Global South and supports inclusive growth rather than exclusion.