Canada's Victor Fedeli highlights safety, inclusion and empowerment in AI at India AI Impact Summit 2026

New Delhi [India], February 16 (ANI): Canada's Ontario Minister of Economic Development, Job Creation & Trade, Victor Fedeli, on Monday outlined two key priorities at the India AI Impact Summit 2026, emphasising the need to understand diverse AI sectors and ensure that the technology is safe, inclusive, and empowering for all.
Speaking to ANI at the summit, Fedeli said the initiative has "twofold" objectives. One focuses on the understanding of the potential of the technology and the other on making it safe by "default".
"One is to continue to understand and to speak with all the vibrant, diverse and dynamic sectors that are here. We have industry, we have young people themselves, we have government, and we have partners who are working across civil society. Continue to learn and share the lessons that we have, both on the positive as well as on the more risk-related," he said.
"The second is to advocate that we genuinely look together at making sure that AI is safe by default and that AI is inclusive by design and not by default, so that we think through if we're going to open opportunities for everyone, we have to think about that at the early design stage. And then the third is how do we make sure that AI is empowering, and that's building AI literacy with young people and children, as well as parents and carers," he added.
Fedeli highlighted the importance of global collaboration at the summit, noting that leaders and decision-makers from around the world are coming together to share policies and approaches that promote responsible AI.
"At the end of this summit, there will be a statement and declaration by the leaders. We hope that they recognise children and young people as key stakeholders, both in promoting their future and in protecting it," the minister said.
The minister also stressed the value of engaging with a wide range of participants at the summit, from innovators and industry experts to civil society members, to share lessons learned and shape the global AI ecosystem in a way that is safe, equitable, and forward-looking.
The India AI Impact Summit 2026, being held from February 16 to 20, brings together governments, startups, investors, and researchers from across the world to discuss the transformative potential of AI, ethical adoption, and collaborative opportunities in the global AI economy.
This is the first international AI summit that is taking place in the Global South. (ANI)