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Image disclaimer: This is an AI-generated representative image created for contextual illustration. It is not an actual photograph from the event.
India AI Impact Summit 2026 closed with strong global visibility for India’s AI ambitions, with the government highlighting broad international participation and a major turnout at Bharat Mandapam. But like most mega events that bring together VIP leaders, delegates, startups, students, media, and security layers in one venue, it also had moments of friction on the ground.
One such moment, according to a verified source familiar with the summit proceedings, involved Google CEO Sundar Pichai being made to walk nearly 1 km on one of the key days of the event due to access and movement constraints inside the larger summit zone.
The incident, while unusual at that level, is perhaps best understood as a function of scale rather than a reflection of intent. This was a high-density, multi-day gathering with overlapping sessions, expo traffic, security perimeters, and shifting access routes. In that environment, even tightly managed movement plans can get stretched.
Big summit, real-world bottlenecks
Day one itself had a visibly high-energy, crowded feel, with attendees moving across session halls, expo areas and security checkpoints. For many participants, the excitement of the event was matched by the challenge of navigating a venue built for both public engagement and high-level protocol.
That mix can create inevitable bottlenecks. When a summit is designed to be both globally significant and publicly accessible, friction points tend to surface. The upside, of course, is that the event does not feel closed or insulated. The trade-off is operational complexity.
The Pichai anecdote stands out not because it signals failure, but because it humanises the realities of a summit of this magnitude. It shows that when a country hosts an AI gathering at global scale, the story is not only about declarations, keynote speeches and policy frameworks. It is also about the choreography behind the scenes.
And in a way, that is part of India’s AI story too: ambitious, crowded, imperfect, and moving fast.