Lagatar24 Desk
New Delhi: French President Emmanuel Macron opened his speech at the India AI Impact Summit with a “namaste” and praised India for building a digital ecosystem that has transformed lives at an unmatched scale, calling it something no other country has achieved.
Macron Highlights India’s Unique Digital Transformation
Macron explained his point using the example of a Mumbai street vendor, saying that a decade ago many people could not even open bank accounts due to lack of documents, but today the same people can accept payments instantly using UPI. He described this not just as a technology achievement, but as a “civilisational story.”
India Stack and AI Democratisation in Focus
Macron highlighted India’s large-scale digital infrastructure, including a digital identity system for 1.4 billion people, a payment network processing billions of transactions monthly, and a health ecosystem issuing hundreds of millions of digital health IDs. He said these systems prove that large populations can be brought into the digital economy through inclusive innovation.
Macron Calls for Responsible and Sovereign AI
Macron rejected the idea that AI progress belongs only to the richest nations and biggest tech giants. He echoed Prime Minister Modi’s human-centric AI message and said India and France share a vision of building sovereign AI that balances innovation with responsibility, technology with humanity, and development with safety.
“AI Together” Message for Global Cooperation
Macron said the goal of the summit is to shift the global AI conversation from “doing more” to “doing better together.” He stressed that access to AI for all is critical and concluded with the message that India and France want to shape the future through collaboration, describing the mission in simple words: “AI together.”
