‘Must work together to ensure AI benefit for everyone’: Sundar Pichai, says US India partnership ‘critical’

NEW DELHI: Google CEO Sundar Pichai on Thursday highlighted the importance of tech partnership between India and the US and congratulated the countries as India was set to join US-led Pax Silica initiative focused on making sure that the supply chains are safe and secure and encourages greater commercial partnerships across key technologies.

Speaking at a special event held to mark India joining the Pax Silica initiative led by the US in the national capital, Pichai hailed the US-India partnership as critical. “We are on the cusp of an era of hyper progress and new discoveries, but the best outcomes are not guaranteed. we must work together to ensure the benefits of AI are available to everyone, and everywhere,” he said

“I believe India is going to have an extraordinary trajectory with AI and we are supporting with a full stack commitment, including products, scaling and infrastructure. We are working on building AI products and solutions for Indian consumers and businesses to empower India’s incredible developer community, we’ve already contributed 22 Gemma models to AI coach, and we are working closely with the government to bring AI applications with real world impact be through delivering timely monsoon forecast to farmers, helping healthcare workers screen for diseases like diabetic retinopathy or making information and services accessible in more languages, our current extends to reimagining the products, people use every day,” he said.

At the signing of the Pax Silica Declaration, Sundar Pichai, CEO of Google and Alphabet Inc., stressed stronger US–India collaboration to ensure AI benefits all, adding that Google is supporting India’s AI growth through products, infrastructure, and scalable solutions for… pic.twitter.com/VnHyJ2wPSQ

— Digital India (@_DigitalIndia) February 20, 2026

Pichai also highlighted the range of partnerships that Google has in India saying that the idea is to bring benefits of AI to people and businesses in India.

“Globally, our scam detection features with circle to search and lens are used in India more than anywhere else. The Gemini app is growing rapidly across the world, and it’s available in 10 languages spoken in India. And YouTube supports a vibrant ecosystem of Indian content creators sharing music, arts and culture with the world. Second skilling, through the AI skill house, we are working to equip 10 million future Indian leaders with the tools to drive global progress. We are also partnering with Wadhwani AI to reach students and early career professionals with a Google AI certificate, which we announced earlier this week. Third, infrastructure. Last year, we announced a $15 billion investment in Indian infrastructure with the AI hub in Vizag at the center. This hub will house gigawatt scale compute, when finished, it will bring jobs and the benefits of cutting edge AI to people and businesses across India,” he said.

Pichai said that that building on these the initiative will significantly expand the digital trade routes and serve as a literal bridge between our two countries and underlined the importance of stable supply chains built on a foundation of shared trust products, subsea cables, AI hubs or are all dependent on a complex flow of goods and components across borders.

“We recently announced the India America connect initiative, which will deliver new subsea cable routes to connect the US India and multiple locations across the southern hemisphere, combined with our existing cable systems, this initiative will significantly expand the digital trade routes and serve as a literal bridge between our two countries. None of this would be possible without stable supply chains built on a foundation of shared trust products, subsea cables, AI hubs or are all dependent on a complex flow of goods and components across borders. Pax silica focuses on making sure that the supply chains are safe and secure and encourages greater commercial partnerships across key technologies,” he said.

Pax Silica is the US Department of State’s flagship effort on AI and supply chain security, advancing new economic security consensus among allies and trusted partners. The Pax Silica Declaration underlines the importance of a reliable supply chain indispensable to mutual economic security and recognises AI as a transformative force for long-term prosperity.

The India AI Impact Summit 2026, the first global AI summit hosted in the Global South, has brought together policymakers, industry leaders, academics and civil society representatives to deliberate on responsible AI governance and inclusive technological advancement. (ANI)