DeepMind CEO: AGI could be 10x the Industrial Revolution in 10 years

At the India AI Impact Summit 2026 in Delhi, Demis Hassabis highlighted India's AI momentum, pointing to DeepMind's Bangalore research hub and partnerships like Reliance Jio to bring Gemini models to every citizen. He framed AGI, potentially arriving within five years, as a force 10 times more impactful than the Industrial Revolution, unfolding over a decade to change science through breakthroughs reminiscent of AlphaFold in protein folding, materials, fusion, and beyond. He urged a scientific approach with guardrails while acknowledging explosive capabilities, praised India's IISc student energy, and called for global summits to unite technologists, governments, and philosophers to secure a golden era of discovery for humanity.

Arthur Mensch, CEO and co-founder of Mistral AI, spoke about open, decentralized, and people-first AI. He warned against concentrating AI power in a few firms and argued that countries must own and control their AI systems to preserve digital autonomy. He championed open-source models and said AI should empower citizens, governments, and businesses rather than serve dominance or surveillance. He praised India's linguistic diversity and talent, stressing multilingual AI, affordability, and self-reliance as pillars, and called India a future global hub for open, inclusive AI innovation.

Schneider Electric CEO Olivier Blum warned at the summit that AI will dramatically raise global energy demand as data centers powering AI and smart grids change consumption patterns. He said AI-driven infrastructure will reshape power use and that India can lead this transformation through innovation, cost efficiency, and engineering talent. He stressed that energy efficiency is as important as clean power in fighting climate change and ensuring reliable electricity for the future.

Roshni Nadar Malhotra, chairperson of HCLTech, delivered a stark message that AI may be the defining structural shift of the decade. She described AI as the 'invisible hum' reshaping industries and societies by commoditising knowledge, arguing the real edge lies in clear thinking and responsible leadership. She urged India to move from scale-centric services to intelligence-led, IP-centric value creation, where ownership of platforms and models matters more than mere deployment. She called for compute to be treated as digital public infrastructure and for access to be democratized, with ethics, trust, and inclusion guiding AI’s rollout.

Together, the speakers painted a picture of a future where AI brings unprecedented opportunity while demanding guardrails, thoughtful governance, and broad participation. The India AI Impact Summit 2026 thus frames a joint path for technologists, policymakers, and citizens to shape a golden era of discovery that serves humanity.

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