India AI Impact Summit 2026: Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei says India key to managing AI’s promise and risks as firm expands presence

India AI Impact Summit 2026 | Anthropic Chief Executive Dario Amodei said India will play a "central role" in shaping the future of artificial intelligence, highlighting both the technology's transformative potential and its risks, as the US-based AI startup expands its footprint in the country.

Addressing heads of state, delegates and industry leaders at the India AI Impact Summit, Amodei praised the country’s momentum in the field. 

“The energy and ambition in this room and across India are incredible,” he said. “I’ve been spent the last few days meeting with Indian builders and enterprises, and the energy to build together here is palpable, unlike anywhere else.”

His remarks come days after Anthropic opened a new office in Bengaluru, its second in Asia after Tokyo, and announced partnerships across enterprise, education and agriculture sectors. India is the second-largest market for the company’s Claude AI assistant, accounting for about 5.8% of global usage, behind only the United States.

Amodei described the rapid pace of AI development as unprecedented, saying advances since the first global AI safety summit at Britain’s Bletchley Park in 2023 have been “absolutely staggering.”

“My fundamental view is that AI has been on an exponential for the last 10 years… we are now well advanced on that curve,” he said. He warned that systems capable of outperforming humans across most tasks may be only years away, describing a future with “a country of geniuses in a data centre, a set of AI agents that are more capable than most humans at most things, and can coordinate at superhuman speed.”

While such capabilities could “cure diseases that have been incurable for thousands of years” and “lift billions out of poverty,” he said they also pose serious risks, including misuse, autonomous behaviour and job disruption.

“India has an absolutely central role to play in these questions and challenges, both on the side of the opportunities and on the side of the risks,” Amodei said.

Recently, Anthropic appointed tech veteran Irina Ghose as managing director for India and announced partnerships with major companies, including Infosys. The company is also working with nonprofits such as the X-Step Foundation, Pratham and Central Square Foundation to deploy AI in education, agriculture, health and digital infrastructure.

Amodei noted that innovations developed in India often spread across developing nations. 

“Technology and practices pioneered in India have historically set a standard for the global South,” he said, adding that the company hopes to “spread AI’s benefits across the global South, starting with India.”

Anthropic is also collaborating with local organisations to evaluate its models in Indian languages and real-world use cases, including agriculture, legal services and education.

On governance, Amodei called on India to help shape global safety standards. “India is the world’s largest democracy, and can be a partner and leader in addressing the global security and economic risks,” he said, expressing interest in working with the government on testing AI systems for safety and security threats.

He also warned of economic upheaval as automation accelerates. Although AI could expand prosperity, “because it is happening so fast, it may lead to a time of disruption,” he said, urging cooperation between governments, companies and labour groups to manage the transition.

“We believe that AI will greatly grow the economic pie… but we need to work together… to better manage that time of disruption and bring better prosperity smoothly to all,” Amodei said.