India AI Impact Summit: Guinness Record for Responsible AI Pledges

Day 3 of the India AI Impact Summit 2026 at Bharat Mandapam, New Delhi, delivered a mix of record-setting citizen participation and big-ticket announcements from global technology firms. The focus remained on “Responsible AI”, digital connectivity, talent development and scaling compute capacity, as India positioned itself as a key convening hub for AI governance and deployment across emerging markets.

Guinness Record for Responsible AI Pledges

Union IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw announced that India secured a Guinness World Records title for the “Most pledges received for an AI responsibility campaign in 24 hours”. A total of 250,946 valid pledges were recorded during the 24-hour period from February 16 to February 17. The campaign targeted broad public participation, with a strong push through colleges and student networks, aiming to build trust-led adoption of AI alongside innovation.

Google Unveils America-India Connect and AI Challenges

Google announced “America-India Connect”, a connectivity initiative to build new strategic fibre-optic routes linking the United States, India and multiple locations across the Southern Hemisphere. The plan includes expanded subsea cable capacity and a new international gateway in India, intended to strengthen digital resilience for AI-era traffic. Google also outlined two $30 million challenge funds—one focused on AI for Government Innovation to improve public service delivery and another on AI for Science to back researchers using AI for breakthroughs—along with partnerships around skilling and education, including with Karmayogi Bharat and Indian public institutions.

Microsoft, OpenAI and Yotta Signal Scale-Up Push

Microsoft said it is on pace to invest $50 billion by 2030 to help expand AI access across countries in the ‘Global South’, framing the move as a response to widening adoption gaps. OpenAI announced collaborations with a first cohort of Indian higher education institutions to promote systematic, responsible AI use across campuses. The cohort includes IIT Delhi, IIM Ahmedabad, AIIMS New Delhi, Manipal Academy of Higher Education, UPES and Pearl Academy, with a stated goal of supporting more than 100,000 students, faculty and staff over the next year. Separately, Yotta Data Services said it will spend over $2 billion on Nvidia’s latest chips to develop an AI computing hub, alongside plans to raise capital ahead of a potential IPO.

Important Facts for Exams

• Guinness World Records recognises time-bound mass participation achievements, including pledge campaigns.
• Subsea fibre-optic cables carry the majority of global internet traffic and are critical digital infrastructure.
• ‘Global South’ is a geopolitical term for many developing and emerging economies, not a strict geographic category.
• AI compute capacity depends heavily on specialised GPUs used for training and inference at scale.

What Day 3 Signals for India’s AI Strategy

The announcements underline a two-track approach: building public trust through responsibility frameworks while upgrading connectivity, skills and compute to support AI adoption at scale. With government-linked campaigns, industry funding and academic partnerships converging, Day 3 reinforced India’s push to shape AI’s rules and build the infrastructure needed for wide deployment across public services, education and industry.