In a defining moment for India’s technological aspirations, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman praised Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s leadership at the India AI Impact Summit 2026. Following a high-level meeting at Hyderabad House, Altman noted that India has emerged as OpenAI’s second-largest market globally, characterized by an “amazing energy” from builders across the entire AI stack.
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Altman’s visit to the national capital included a keynote at IIT Delhi, where he observed firsthand the momentum of Indian developers. He specifically highlighted PM Modi’s commitment to making AI an inclusive tool rather than an elite privilege.
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Democratizing the Stack: The Modi-Altman Dialogue
The core of the discussion centered on the “democratization” of AI. Altman expressed that Modi’s enthusiasm for ensuring society-wide benefits aligns with OpenAI’s mission. “I love the Prime Minister’s vision… his balancing that with making sure that everyone in society benefits and we get to mitigate the risks was outstanding,” Altman said.
The dialogue underscored India’s role as the leader of the Global South in setting the agenda for responsible AI governance. By hosting over 45 Ministers and 30 international organizations, New Delhi is positioning itself as the bridge between Silicon Valley innovation and inclusive policy.
Codex Explosion: India’s Coding Revolution
A staggering data point emerged from Altman’s social media updates: India is now the fastest-growing market for Codex globally. Codex, which serves as the command center for agentic coding (AI that can autonomously write, test, and deploy code), saw its weekly active users in India surge by 400% in the last two weeks alone.
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The Three Sutras: People, Planet, and Progress
The Summit’s framework is built on three foundational pillars or “Sutras”:
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People: Human-centric AI that safeguards individual rights.
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Planet: Environmentally sustainable AI infrastructure (linking back to RIL’s green-power data centers).
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Progress: Inclusive economic growth that prevents a “digital divide.”
This “Family Photo” moment at Bharat Mandapam—featuring Modi alongside Altman, Sundar Pichai (Google), and Dario Amodei (Anthropic)—signaled a global consensus on India’s pivotal role in the AI era.
Reality Check
Sam Altman calls India a “highlight” and a “special” market. Still, OpenAI has historically been slow to release localized versions of its most advanced models (like Sora or GPT-5) in India compared to the US. Therefore, while the “enthusiasm” is high, the compute-gap remains a reality. In fact, most of the 4x Codex growth is happening on US-hosted servers. Without domestic “GPU-Sovereignty,” India remains a consumer of OpenAI’s intelligence rather than a co-owner of the infrastructure.
The Loopholes
Altman mentions the need to “mitigate risks.” In fact, the US and India have different definitions of AI risk—Washington focuses on “existential safety,” while Delhi focuses on “misinformation and job displacement.” Therefore, the “alignment” Altman speaks of might be a diplomatic loophole that masks deeper disagreements on data localization and algorithmic transparency. Still, the 4x growth in Codex is a “hard-data” loophole-closer; it proves that Indian developers are bypassing traditional learning curves at a rate that OpenAI simply cannot ignore.
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What This Means for You
If you are a student or a developer, the Codex surge is your signal to master “Agentic Workflows.” First, move beyond simple prompt engineering and start using AI as a co-pilot for full-stack deployment. Then, watch for the “AI Impact” grants likely to be announced following the summit’s “Progress” sutra.
Finally, realize that the IIT Delhi focus suggests that top-tier institutions will get first access to OpenAI’s “closed-door” research tools. You should keep an eye on the Voters’ Service Portal and other public digital infrastructure (DPI), as they are the next targets for “agentic” integration. Before the end of the year, follow the Qualcomm-Modi updates to see how AI will be processed “on-device” (Edge AI) in the next generation of budget smartphones in India.
What’s Next
The India AI Impact Summit will release its final “Delhi Declaration on AI Governance” tomorrow. Then, a new partnership between OpenAI and an Indian educational body is expected to be announced. Finally, look for the first batch of “Codex-certified” incubators to launch in Bengaluru and Hyderabad by mid-2026.
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