India’s IT minister apologised for overcrowding and organisational problems at a major AI summit in New Delhi, promising improvements after a chaotic opening day.
NEW DELHI: India’s IT minister has apologised to attendees of a major global artificial intelligence summit in New Delhi following complaints of severe overcrowding and organisational issues on the event’s opening day.
Ashwini Vaishnaw offered his apologies at a news conference, acknowledging problems faced by visitors to the AI Impact Summit. “If anybody has faced any problems yesterday, my apologies for that. We are working very hard,” the minister stated.
He pledged that efforts were underway to smooth operations for the five-day gathering, which is the largest edition of the annual summit and the first held in a developing country. Organisers expect tens of thousands of attendees, including national delegations, companies, and students.
The summit’s vast conference site experienced significant crowding on Monday, with not all areas open to the public. Some visitors reported that entry systems and other provisions were inadequate for the scale of the event.
Startup founder Maitreya Wagh highlighted the initial chaos on social media platform X, writing, “Gates are closed so could not access my own booth at the AI Summit.” However, he later posted that the event was “running seamlessly given the scale” by Tuesday.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi toured the exhibition booths on Monday afternoon, though the media centre and most exhibition zones remained closed to general visitors at that time. AFP reporters noted that entrance and exit points were busy on the first day but observed no significant crowding issues on Tuesday.
Minister Vaishnaw emphasised the summit’s global significance, calling it “the biggest AI summit in the entire world.” He described the response as “phenomenal” and the energy as “palpable,” while inviting further feedback on event operations.
“We definitely will make efforts to make it more smooth and make it more enjoyable for all of you,” he added, committing to ongoing improvements throughout the event’s duration.
