The India AI Impact Summit 2026, scheduled to be held in New Delhi from February 16 to 20, is set to become the largest global AI summit to date. With participation expected from over 100 countries, including heads of government, global technology leaders, researchers, and civil society organisations, the Summit marks a decisive moment in how the world approaches Artificial Intelligence.
As AI systems increasingly shape economies, governance, and everyday life, the Summit is placing renewed attention on responsible and inclusive AI. Central to this conversation is a critical question: how can AI be designed in ways that recognise women not just as users or beneficiaries, but as decision-makers, data contributors, and stakeholders whose safety, labour, and rights are deeply affected by these technologies?
Design for HER: Gender transformative AI for Viksit Bharat @ 2047
The level of engagement leading up to the Summit has been equally impressive. Over 1,300 ideas and proposals have poured in for pre-summit programmes, and more than 500 of these sessions have already taken place across sectors and regions, both in India and globally. In addition, the Summit includes seven flagship events that have together engaged 300,000+ participants.
One of the recent pre-Summit events was DESIGN for HER: Gender Transformative AI for Viksit Bharat @2047, an official pre-event of the upcoming IndiaAI Summit 2026. Organised by the V. V. Giri National Labour Institute in collaboration with the Institute of Social Studies Trust (ISST), the session brought gender and inclusion to the centre of the AI conversation.
Shri Amit Nirmal Ji, Joint Secretary at the National Commission for Scheduled Tribes, chaired the panel, which focused on integrating intersectionality into AI governance and sparked powerful discussions on how to build AI systems and tools that truly work for everyone.
AI needs to actually follow the “DESIGN for HER” rule
AI is literally running the world. And yet, most AI systems today still run on male-default data, male-led teams, and male assumptions. What gets marketed as neutral tech is actually built around a minimal view of society.
The recent Grok controversy is a reminder of how fast things can go wrong when safeguards, moderation, and gender sensitivity are weak. Women and marginalised users are usually the first to face harm when AI systems fail, whether through harassment, deepfakes, abuse, or misinformation. The point here is not just Grok, but what it exposed about the lack of accountability in AI products.
That is why conversations around mandatory gender impact assessments are long overdue. Before high-risk AI systems go live, developers must be required to examine how these tools affect women differently, identify potential harms, and build in protections early on. Just as we expect data privacy and security checks, gender impact assessments should become a fundamental part of responsible AI deployment.
The invisible workforce behind Artificial Intelligence
AI systems learn from large datasets, and a significant portion of those datasets comes from women. Images of women train facial recognition systems. Women’s voices train voice assistants. Women’s online activity trains recommendation engines, chatbots, and moderation tools. In addition, thousands of women work in invisible roles such as content moderation, data labelling and annotation, cleaning and feeding data so AI can function properly.
Yet this labour remains largely unrecognised and unpaid. Most women never consent to how AI collects, stores or reuses their data. Their faces, voices, and digital footprints become raw material for profit-driven systems. Unfortunately, there is little transparency or control over how the systems use that data. At the same time, the underrepresentation of women in AI leadership, policymaking, and product design continues. A small group of tech companies and male-led teams still dominates decisions about safety standards, funding priorities, and governance frameworks.
Representation matters at every stage: who codes the algorithms, who tests them, who trains the datasets, and who decides policy. When we involve women meaningfully, AI tools become more inclusive, practical, and safer for everyone.
Global collaboration and the case for gender-inclusive AI standards
The India AI Impact Summit 2026 brings together voices from over 100 countries. It is creating a unique opportunity to share insights and set global standards for gender-inclusive AI. International collaboration can help develop guidelines, share best practices, and ensure that diverse experiences from around the world inform AI tools designed for women in India. This global perspective is key to building AI that works for women everywhere.
With initiatives like DESIGN for HER moving to the centre of the conversation, the Summit has the chance to shift AI from being gender-blind to gender-aware.
The closing thoughts
As the India AI Impact Summit 2026 approaches, the real question is no longer whether AI will shape the future. Instead, the question is whose future AI will shape. For women, this is about more than representation in tech spaces. It is about safety, dignity, access, and power in a world increasingly run by algorithms.
If the Summit can push concrete action on gender impact assessments, data rights, and inclusive governance, it could mark a turning point. It will be a point at which AI begins to be built around women and with women. Because an AI future that ignores half the population is neither innovative nor complete.
Changeincontent perspective on the India AI Impact Summit
At changeincontent, we believe that we cannot call Artificial Intelligence transformative if it continues to replicate the same gender hierarchies that already exist offline. AI systems are not neutral by default. They reflect who builds them, whose data we prioritise, and whose safety we treat as expendable.
The India AI Impact Summit comes at a time when AI is rapidly being embedded into public systems, workplaces, education, surveillance, and governance. Yet the underrepresentation of women continues in AI leadership, policy framing, and product design. Moreover, it is happening even when women’s data and labour power these systems.
If India wants to position itself as a global AI leader, inclusion cannot remain a side conversation. Gender impact assessments, data consent frameworks, and women’s representation in AI decision-making must move from panels to policy. Otherwise, AI will simply scale inequality faster than ever before.
Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are based on the writer’s insights, supported by data and resources available both online and offline, as applicable. Changeincontent.com is committed to promoting inclusivity across all forms of content. We broadly define inclusivity as media, policies, law, and history. It encompasses all elements that influence the lives of women and marginalised individuals. Our goal is to promote understanding and advocate for comprehensive inclusivity.
