India and France Forge Ethical AI Future at 2025 Bengaluru Summit

June 27, 2025 By IronHearted

On June 5, 2025, Bengaluru hosted a major international event—the La French Tech India AI Summit 2025—highlighting a growing strategic alliance between India and France in developing artificial intelligence (AI) that is ethical, inclusive, and focused on the public good. Organized by La French Tech India with support from the Indo-French Chamber of Commerce & Industry (IFCCI), Business France, the French Consulate in Bangalore, and French Foreign Trade Advisors (CCEF), the summit brought together more than 250 participants, including government leaders, academics, startups, and corporate stakeholders. The event reinforced the commitments laid out in the India-France Joint Declaration on AI issued in February 2025.

A Shared Vision Rooted in Ethical Innovation

Held at the Bangalore International Centre, the summit reflected a shared desire to move beyond technology for profit, embracing AI development that benefits society. It was strategically timed ahead of the upcoming India-France Year of Innovation 2026. This collaboration builds on a global initiative from the AI Action Summit in Paris earlier in February 2025, co-chaired by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and French President Emmanuel Macron, where leaders from 60 nations signed a pledge promoting people-centric, sustainable AI.

India’s growing AI ecosystem—expected to hit $17 billion by 2027—is supported by a strong foundation: over 700 million smartphone users, advanced digital public infrastructure, and a fast-expanding pool of AI talent. France, with more than 1,000 AI startups including leaders like Mistral AI and Hugging Face, ranks third worldwide in AI research. This complementary partnership aims to shape a third model of AI—neither driven by state surveillance nor dominated by monopolistic platforms—but one grounded in democratic values and equitable access.

Core Goals and Themes

The summit identified five key themes guiding the India-France AI roadmap:

Responsible AI Development: Focused on transparency, fairness, and minimizing algorithmic bias to foster trust and fairness in AI applications.
Inclusive AI Solutions: Creating scalable AI systems that address India’s linguistic and socioeconomic diversity, especially for rural communities and non-English speakers.
Public-Good Technology: Promoting AI use in sectors like education, health, and governance rather than purely commercial pursuits.
International Collaboration: Developing shared global AI standards and interoperable data ecosystems to balance innovation with regulation.
Sustainable Computing: Encouraging energy-efficient AI development to reduce the technology’s growing environmental impact.

These principles echo the inclusive and sustainable AI agenda outlined in the Paris AI Action Summit, with a focus on accessibility and ethical oversight.

Insightful Dialogues and Panel Sessions

The day featured insightful keynotes and panel discussions. iSPIRT co-founder Sharad Sharma set the tone by calling for a “middle path” that combines technological growth with ethical responsibility. One panel, moderated by Madhusha Mishra (Link), explored AI’s practical use in solving real-world challenges. The speakers—Dr. Gaurav Aggarwal (Jio), Partha Rao (Prints.AI), Amit Pingle (Michelin), and Umakant Soni (AI Foundry)—highlighted innovations in agriculture, education, and diagnostics.

Later sessions delved into ethical frameworks. Hari Subramanian of NitiAI and iSPIRT introduced guidelines for building AI that citizens can trust, focusing on transparency and accountability. Mehak Kasbekar (Brut India) examined how media plays a vital role in shaping AI narratives and public perceptions. Another panel, moderated by Rajesh Desai (Lyra India), brought together experts like Olivier Flous (Thales), Astha Kapoor (Aapti Institute), Shiv Kumar DVS (OVH), and Sachin Kumar (QpiAI), who discussed how to build AI that aligns with human values and prioritizes public welfare.

Souad Tenfiche, Co-Chair of La French Tech India, summed up the summit’s spirit: “AI will define our future—but who defines AI? France and India are stepping up to answer that question with trust and openness, not surveillance or monopoly.” Capgemini’s Charlotte de Beauregard echoed the sentiment, saying that tech leadership now also means responsible deployment, not just innovation.

Key Outcomes and Agreements

Several significant initiatives emerged from the summit:

Joint LLM Development: India and France plan to co-develop multilingual large language models (LLMs) that support India’s 22 official languages and French linguistic diversity, making AI more accessible to non-English speakers.
Cross-Border Data Infrastructure: The two countries will collaborate on interoperable frameworks for data sharing, enabling cooperation while safeguarding data sovereignty.
Shared Ethical Standards: Drawing on the Global Partnership on AI (GPAI), where India was 2024 chair, both nations committed to co-developing standards for transparency, bias mitigation, and accountability.
Startup Ecosystem Integration: Efforts will be made to connect France’s 1,000+ AI startups with India’s 10,000+ tech startups, fostering innovation through shared resources and market access.
Eco-Friendly AI: A commitment to build energy-efficient AI tools was reaffirmed under the Coalition for Environmentally Sustainable AI, which France leads with India as a founding member.

These outcomes further the objectives of the India-France Joint Declaration on AI and the AI Policy Roundtable that took place alongside the Paris summit.

Broader Impact on the Global AI Landscape

Shaping a Global Ethical AI Framework: By promoting a third model of AI governance, India and France offer an alternative to models led by the U.S. and China. Their approach prioritizes democracy, accountability, and public benefit—values that could appeal especially to countries in the Global South.
Economic Growth and Innovation: Joint AI projects could bolster India’s AI market and support France’s €109 billion AI ecosystem, generating employment and spurring technological innovation across multiple industries.
Improving Access for Marginalized Groups: The collaboration aims to bring AI to underserved communities, especially in rural India, by supporting multilingual solutions for healthcare, learning, and digital services.
Environmental Responsibility: A shared focus on reducing AI’s carbon footprint reflects a growing concern over the energy demands of large-scale AI training.

Roadblocks Ahead

Despite the progress, several challenges were highlighted:

Bias in Multilingual AI: Developing accurate LLMs for India’s many dialects and languages is technically difficult and risks embedding bias, a concern raised earlier by PM Modi in Paris.
Legal and Data Barriers: Aligning India’s 2023 Digital Personal Data Protection Act with the EU’s GDPR framework is necessary but complex, especially regarding international data transfers.
Hardware Shortage: India’s AI ambitions may be hindered by its current shortage of high-performance GPUs—experts estimate the country needs 30,000 GPUs by 2027.
Intense Global Competition: The combined $200 billion AI investment by the U.S. and China sets a tough benchmark. India and France must significantly scale their R&D and infrastructure.
Skilling the Workforce: India’s goal of training 1 million AI professionals by 2030 requires accelerated investment in education and hands-on training to complement France’s research leadership.

Who Benefits?

Governments: The summit strengthens India’s diplomatic presence in AI governance and reinforces France’s global leadership in ethical AI.
Corporations: Companies like Jio Reliance and Thales gain opportunities to co-create AI solutions, enhancing their global competitiveness.
Startups: Access to transnational markets and joint incubation programs provides critical support for smaller innovators.
The Public: Citizens in both countries benefit through more accessible, trustworthy, and inclusive AI applications—especially in remote and underserved communities.

Looking Ahead

The summit laid a solid foundation for the India-France Year of Innovation 2026, which will feature collaborative AI labs, joint startup accelerators, and regulatory workshops. India’s upcoming Global AI Impact Summit with UNESCO in 2026 will offer another platform to refine this bilateral vision. Social media responses—like those from @IndianTechGuide—highlighted excitement about the summit’s inclusive approach, though users also noted the urgent need to boost infrastructure.

Conclusion

The 2025 India-France AI Summit in Bengaluru marked a significant milestone in shaping AI that serves people, not just profits. Through shared commitments to ethics, inclusivity, and sustainability, India and France are laying the groundwork for a future where AI empowers citizens rather than controls them. While challenges remain in infrastructure, regulation, and scaling, the collaborative model they propose offers a compelling path forward for global AI development rooted in trust, openness, and human values.