What I saw at India’s AI summit

India hosted one of the world’s biggest AI events this week, but it was marred by chaos and confusion, apparently not the message it’s trying to send as it strives to become a leading artificial intelligence player.

Despite the drama, U.S. tech firms in particular couldn’t resist the temptation of the Indian market, talking up the country’s AI potential and making a number of announcements.

I have been on the ground in New Delhi since Monday and I can honestly say that the AI Impact Summit has been one of the most challenging reporting assignments of my career.

Traffic has been a nightmare more than usual in the Indian capital. There were times it didn’t move at all. On Wednesday, I had events and interviews at three different hotels and getting the team around to these appointments on time was a real challenge.

At one point on Thursday, were weren’t even sure if we’d be able to enter the Bharat Mandapam, the venue where the summit took place. That’s because instructions were not clear on when media would be allowed in on Thursday when Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the event.

We eventually found out we could enter at 6 a.m. local time. When we turned up, security did not let us in until later, not before a crowd of media had gathered at the gates. Inside, security were giving out conflicting instructions.

Several delegates expressed to me their frustrations over the organization of the summit.

The event itself was marred by other controversies. Bill Gates, who was named in the Epstein files, was scheduled to give a keynote address. There was then uncertainty if he would even turn up. The Gates Foundation had said earlier in the week that he would give the speech, but then on Thursday said the billionaire had pulled out.

Meanwhile, a university was reportedly kicked out of the summit for suggesting a robot dog they were showcasing was its own creation. A professor at Galgotias University told state-run broadcaster DD News that the robot, which was actually made by Chinese firm Unitree, was “developed” by the academic institution.

Online users called out the university, highlighting that the robot was made by a Chinese firm. The university denied claiming it had built the robot.

“We would like to clearly state that the robotic programming is part of our endeavor to make students learn AI programming and develop and deploy real-world skills using globally available tools and resources, given developing AI talent is [the] need of the hour,” the university said, according to media reports.

Indian IT minister Ashwini Vaishnaw apologized on Tuesday for the “problems” on day one.

Then, there was the hand-holding moment that went viral between two AI giants. Modi had delegates on stage with everyone holding hands. But OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei didn’t do as they they’d been instructed, in a moment that instantly got scrutinized across social media. Altman later explained that he was “confused” and wasn’t sure what he should be doing.

Days earlier, Anthropic ran a Super Bowl ad taking digs at OpenAI’s decision to test advertisements in ChatGPT.

Despite all of these moments, the event pulled in a who’s who of tech names from Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai to Altman, all of whom talked up India’s advantages from a huge talent pool to a large consumer market.

“The excitement here, it’s just been incredible to watch,” Altman told me.

These tech firms used the week to make announcements and form partnerships around India.

OpenAI said it would be the first customer of Tata Consultancy Services’ data center business. Google announced partnerships with researchers and education institutions for its Gemini artificial intelligence feature.

Every CEO I spoke to praised India’s tech development and focus.

The government used the opportunity to tout India’s potential as an AI hub saying the country was aiming to attract $200 billion in AI investment over the next two years.

Even the blaring horns of the cars of New Delhi and the chaos of the Summit weren’t enough to dampen the enthusiasm from big tech for India which continues to grow as a critical and attractive market for some of the world’s largest firms.