The Research Symposium on Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Its Impact convened on 18 February 2026 as part of the India AI Impact Summit 2026, bringing together leading researchers, policymakers, technologists and industry leaders. The event was designed to bridge frontier research and real\n\nworld application by examining how AI can drive scientific breakthroughs while remaining aligned with public interest, safety and inclusive growth. The programme included plenary keynotes, research dialogues on frontier questions, Global South panels and poster presentations by international researchers. In a special address, the minister responsible for communications and technology framed India's AI journey around practical deployment and population?scale impact, stressing a focus on edge AI that addresses challenges in healthcare, agriculture and climate change while improving enterprise productivity. The minister noted strong interest among young innovators and called for concrete proposals to make AI safe and beneficial for humanity. The symposium was presented as an opportunity to align national strategies with local data ecosystems and linguistic diversity. A leading DeepMind executive reflected that artificial general intelligence remains a work in progress, outlined technical gaps such as continual learning, long?term planning and consistency across tasks, and urged international cooperation to manage risks and share benefits. A distinguished academic argued for governance frameworks that prioritise inclusion, sovereign capability and workforce transformation, particularly in the Global South. Another keynote warned that rapidly advancing capabilities are outpacing evaluation and safeguard mechanisms and called for fundamental shifts in AI design to address misalignment and deceptive behaviour. A further speaker challenged narratives of imminent human?level intelligence and proposed development of predictive world models to improve planning, controllability and safety. The discussions reflected both the extraordinary promise and the profound responsibility of rapid advances in AI, spanning scientific discovery, global governance, alignment, safety and next?generation architectures. Participants emphasised the shared imperative to develop systems that are powerful, trustworthy, inclusive and firmly aligned with human values. The symposium concluded with calls for sustained scientific rigour, cross?border collaboration and inclusive development models to ensure long?term societal benefit.