Global Spotlight on AI: Leaders Gather in New Delhi
- High-Profile Inauguration by Narendra Modi
- International Presence: Addresses by Emmanuel Macron and António Guterres
- The AI Promise: Innovation, Automation and the Future of Governance
- Can Artificial Intelligence Solve Poverty and Malnutrition?
- The Socio-Economic Realities of Developing Nations
- Creativity vs Computation: Limits of Artificial Intelligence
- AI, Big Business and Political Power Structures
- Automation and the Risk of Rising Unemployment
Economic Consequences: Consumption, Labour and the Threat of Recession
The AI Impact Summit 2026 in New Delhi brought together global leaders, including Narendra Modi, Emmanuel Macron, and António Guterres. While AI promises innovation, critical questions remain about unemployment, poverty, and inequality in developing nations. Read the views of former Supreme Court judge Justice Markandey Katju.
The AI Impact Summit 2026
By Justice Markandey Katju
The Government of India is nowadays hosting the AI ( Artificial Intelligence ) Summit, 2026, in Delhi from 16th to 21st February
The summit was inaugurated by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 19 February 2026. The opening ceremony was also addressed by French President Macron and UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres. Over 20 heads of state, more than 60 ministers, and 500 global AI leaders attended, with delegations from more than 100 countries.
Nowadays, there is a great deal of fanfare, hullabaloo, and razzmatazz about AI. Many people are raving and going crazy about it, the latest fad and fancy in the world, as if it can solve all the problems facing mankind.
However, I have many reservations about AI.
The basic problems of the underdeveloped countries of the world, i.e. countries of Asia ( except China and Japan ), Africa and Latin America, ( which comprise about 70% of the world's population ), and even pockets in the developed countries, are socio-economic viz massive poverty, massive unemployment, massive child malnutrition ( about 50% of Indian children are mamourished, according to Global Hunger Index ), soaring prices of essential commodities like food, fuel, and medicines, lack of proper healthcare, good education and housing for the masses, etc.
How can AI solve these problems? Does it have a magic wand to do so? I doubt it can do anything about them.
To divert the attention of the people from these real problems, the rulers resort to various tactics. For example, the Roman Emperors used to say '' If you cannot give the people bread, give them circuses ( or gladiator contests ) ''. Some 'shagoofa' ( gimmick ) is needed all the time, to keep people away from the path of revolt against their miserable plight, e.g. the Metoo Movement, which was the fashionable thing at one time, or Yoga Day in India.
I am not saying that AI is something useless. For instance, it can be helpful in the medical field. But how many people in underdeveloped countries can even afford to go to a proper hospital or a qualified doctor where AI can be applied? The vast majority go to quacks, as they are too poor to go to a qualified doctor.
In other fields, too, AI may be helpful. But it has three drawbacks.
(1) It is wrong to say that AI can perform all the functions of the human mind. A human brain has something which not even the best, latest, and fastest supercomputer can ever have viz creativity. And it is creativity which is required to solve the basic socio-economic problems of the people mentioned above..
(2) AI will not give the correct answer to a question if that answer goes against the interests of the rulers, or the big business class ( who are the real beneficiaries of AI ). For instance, if we ask how can poverty, unemployment, hunger, malnutrition, lack of proper healthcare and good education for the masses etc be abolished in underdeveloped countries, AI cannot give the correct answer, which is a mighty historical people's struggle and people's revolution.
(3) AI will generate more unemployment, when the need of the hour in countries like India is to reduce its massive unemployment. If the work of machines is taken over by AI, as AI will do ( like automation or robots ), what will the workers do?
It must be understood that a worker is not just a producer; he is also a consumer. For instance, a worker in a steel mill produces steel, but he and his family consume food, clothing and other items by buying them with his wages. If a large number of workers become unemployed, they will lose their purchasing capacity. Then how can the goods produced be sold? Will there not then be an economic recession?
So, unless some other source of employment is created for workers, AI will do more harm than good. But no one is thinking about how to create such an alternative source of employment.
(Justice Markandey Katju is a former Judge of the Supreme Court of India, and former Chairman of the Press Council of India. The views expressed are his own.)
