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Prime Minister Narendra Modi and French President Emmanuel Macron urged stronger safeguards to protect children from risks posed by AI and social media at the India AI Impact Summit. Addressing global tech leaders, they said innovation must not come at the cost of child safety, warning unchecked algorithms could undermine society.

In impactful speeches at the India AI Impact Summit 2026, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and French President Emmanuel Macron found rare and emphatic common ground - not on compute infrastructure or model benchmarks, but on the vulnerability of children in an age of algorithmic abundance.

With the world's most powerful technology CEOs seated in the audience, both leaders used the global stage at Bharat Mandapam to issue an unambiguous call to action - artificial intelligence and social media must be made safe for children, or the promise of the technology will be poisoned at its root.

PM Narendra Modi: 'AI must be curated for children, like a school syllabus'

Prime Minister Modi, who wove child safety into the heart of his landmark MANAV Vision address, drew a vivid analogy to make his case. Just as school syllabi are carefully curated to be age-appropriate, he argued, the AI space must be designed with the same deliberateness. "The AI space should also be child-safe and family-guided," he said, to widespread applause from the 118-nation gathering.

The Prime Minister acknowledged the polarising psychology surrounding AI but was clear about where India stands. "Today there are two kinds of people - those who see fear in AI and those who see fortune," he said. "India sees fortune and future in AI, backed by talent, energy capacity, and policy clarity." But that optimism, he made plain, cannot come at the cost of the young.

Modi also used the occasion to celebrate a domestic milestone, expressing happiness that three Indian companies had launched their own AI models and applications during the course of the summit. "These models reflect the talent of India's youth and showcase the depth and diversity of solutions that India is contributing to the global AI landscape," he said.

Frech President Emmanuel Macron: 'Protecting Children Is Not Regulation - It Is Civilisation'

If Modi set the philosophical frame, Macron brought the legislative urgency. The French President, who greeted the audience with a warm "Namaste" and spoke with evident affection for India, issued one of the summit's most quotable challenges - directed, with a smile, squarely at the Prime Minister sitting beside him.

"I hope PM Modi will take action to ban social media for children," Macron said. "Protecting children is not regulation - it is civilisation."

He then laid out France's own journey on the issue. "There is no reason our children should be exposed online to what is legally forbidden in the real world," he said. "Our platforms, governments and regulators should be working together to make the internet and social media a safe space. This is why, in France, we are embarking on a process to ban social networks for children under 15 years old."

Macron named the growing coalition of nations committed to this path - Greece, Spain, and several other European countries represented at the summit - before turning directly to Modi with what appeared to be a pre-arranged announcement. "I know, Prime Minister Modi, you will join this club. This is great news that India will join such an approach in order to protect children and teenagers."

The moment drew considerable attention in the hall - an implicit signal that India, with its 140 billion population and 750 million internet users, may be moving toward formal restrictions on children's access to social media platforms, a move that would have enormous global consequences given the country's scale.

IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw had earlier said that dialogues with social media organisations had already begun, regarding social media guardrails for children.