New Delhi, Feb. 19 -- At the AI Impact Summit 2026, Sam Altman outlined a near-term path to artificial general intelligence while urging governments and societies to treat democratisation as a core safety strategy, not a side principle.

Altman framed his remarks around two parallel realities. AI capabilities are advancing faster than most forecasts, he said, and the choices societies make in the next few years will determine whether that power expands individual agency or concentrates control

His remarks spanned India's rapid AI adoption, a compressed superintelligence timeline, economic disruption, and the governance models that could shape the outcome.

Altman said 100 million people in India use ChatGPT weekly, with more than a third...