New Delhi: Former UK PM Rishi Sunak is in India. He took part in a session at the British High Commission. After reaching the venue a few minutes late, he apologised, but also took a light-hearted dig at Delhi’s traffic and Artificial Intelligence.
Sunak quipped, “I am sorry, I am a few minutes late, that’s entirely my fault. AI can do many things as we have heard this week, but it can’t yet fix Delhi’s traffic. So work to do.”
AI Summit in India: Sunak hails India’s achievements
Sunak was speaking at a joint session with UK Deputy PM David Lammy at the British High Commission. India is currently hosting the India AI Impact Summit 2026, which is being held at Bharat Mandapam in New Delhi.
Speaking at the UK High Commission, Sunak hailed PM Narendra Modi’s leadership. He said that India had moved to a medal position as an AI superpower and lauded the country’s potential to develop technology and also use it.
VIDEO | At India AI Summit, former UK PM Rishi Sunak (@RishiSunak) quips, “AI can do many things but can’t fix Delhi’s traffic.”#RishiSunak #Delhitraffic pic.twitter.com/mbM94ZGRkA
— Press Trust of India (@PTI_News) February 19, 2026
News agencies quoted Sunak as saying, “What this week has been is just a showcase of the extraordinary, not just the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, but the energy that all of you have here to develop this technology and use it is unlike anywhere else in the world. It’s a very special ingredient. It’s the reason that India now, according to Stanford who do the world rankings, moved into one of the medal positions, as an AI superpower in the world, which is something that many of you here should be proud of.”
On a lighter note the former UK PM said that India might have “leapfrogged” the UK to get ahead in the AI race, but England was still the top ranked team in ICC Test rankings. He jokingly said that this was “more important”.
Earlier, while introducing Sunak, UK Deputy PM, called him a “great son of the United Kingdom” and also a “great son of India.” Sunak immediately corrected him saying “son-in-law” drawing laughter from the audience.
Sunak’s address at AI Summit
Meanwhile, speaking at the AI Summit earlier on Thursday, he said that India was uniquely positioned to drive the next phase of AI’s global journey, not just for developed nations but also for developing nations.
He said that there was a need for a regular forum where world leaders and those working in AI can meet and discuss the technology. He said that this was the forum ,which PM Modi was providing in the form of the AI Impact Summit. He said that the Summit would deliver impact and show how AI can be utilised not just for the developed world but also for the developing world.