AI summit statement delayed to ‘maximise’ signatories, says India

Dozens of national delegations at an artificial intelligence summit in India will issue their statement on how the world should handle the technology on Saturday, a day later than expected, India said.

Dozens of national delegations at an artificial intelligence summit in India will issue their statement on how the world should handle the technology on Saturday, a day later than expected, the host country said.

"There is huge consensus on the declaration. We are just trying to maximise the number," India's IT minister Ashwini Vaishnaw told reporters at the AI Impact Summit in New Delhi on Friday.

"The declaration and its contours will be shared transparently tomorrow," he said, adding it had more than 70 signatories so far but he hoped the figure would cross 80.

Vaishnaw declined to give details of what the statement would say as he thanked participants of this week's event that was attended by tens of thousands of people, including world leaders and tech CEOs.

The summit was the fourth annual international meeting to discuss the implications of fast-evolving AI technology, and the first hosted by a developing country.

Some visitors had complained of poor organisation, including chaotic entry and exit points, at the vast summit and expo site.