United Nations: UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres hailed India as a “very successful” emerging economy with growing global influence, calling it the “right place” to host the upcoming AI Impact Summit 2026 from February 16-20.
In an exclusive interview with PTI at the UN Headquarters Guterres, who will attend the summit, underscored that Artificial Intelligence should benefit the entire world and not just be a privilege reserved for developed nations or two superpowers.
“I strongly congratulate India for organising this Summit. It’s absolutely essential that AI develops itself to the benefit of everybody, everywhere and that countries in the Global South are part of the benefits of AI,” he was quoted by news agency PTI as saying.
In an apparent reference to the US and China, Guterres asserted that “it would be totally unacceptable that AI would be just a privilege of the most developed countries
or a division only between two superpowers.”
“It is absolutely essential that AI becomes a universal instrument for the benefit of humankind,” Guterres said.
“The role of India, [which] is today a very successful emerging economy that is having a bigger and bigger role in not only the global economy but in its influence in global affairs, India is the right place to have this Summit and to make sure that AI [is] being discussed in depth, in all its enormous potential and also in all its risks, but that AI belongs to the whole world and not only to a few,” he said.
Underlining his strong advocacy for multipolarity, Guterres highlighted India’s contribution in a multipolar world, saying he looks forward to discussing this with the Indian leadership during his visit to New Delhi.
“There are two things we need to avoid in the world. We need to avoid the system in which there is total hegemony by only one power or a system in which the world is divided between two superpowers,” he said.
Guterres added that he is a “very strong advocate” of the need for true multipolarity in the world.
For true multipolarity, it is important for emerging economies to have a “higher and higher” role and to establish a “stronger and stronger” network of trade, technological and international cooperation relations.