Indian minister apologises after AI summit crowding complaints

NEW DELHI: India’s IT minister apologised on Tuesday to visitors to a global artificial intelligence summit who had complained of overcrowding and other organisational problems on the first day.

The AI Impact Summit in New Delhi, the fourth in a series of annual gatherings to discuss the fast-evolving technology, is the largest edition yet and also the first held in a developing country.

Organisers are expecting tens of thousands of attendees, from top-level national delegations to companies, campaigners and students.

But not all areas of the vast conference site were open when big crowds showed up to the five-day event that opened on Monday, with some visitors saying the entry systems and other provisions were not up to scratch.

“If anybody has faced any problems yesterday, my apologies for that. We are working very hard,” IT minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said at a news conference on Tuesday.

“We definitely will make efforts to make it more smooth and make it more enjoyable for all of you,” he said.

READ MORE: India’s AI Summit opening marred by long queues, confusion

“This is the biggest AI summit in the entire world. The response is phenomenal, the energy is palpable,” Vaishnaw added, inviting feedback on the operations.

AFP reporters did not encounter any significant crowding issues at the summit on Tuesday, although the entrance and exit points had been busy the previous day.

On Monday, the media centre and most of the exhibition zones had not yet opened to general visitors, although Prime Minister Narendra Modi toured the booths in the late afternoon.

“Gates are closed so could not access my own booth at the AI Summit,” startup founder Maitreya Wagh wrote on X on Monday.

But on Tuesday, he posted that the event was now “running seamlessly given the scale”.

“Also… no issues in bringing laptops etc. don’t believe everything you read online,” he added.