New Delhi, Feb 17: Against the backdrop of serious complaints regarding the arrangements during the opening day of AI Impact Summit in New Delhi, Electronics and IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw expressed apology today to the participants who faced inconvenience.
He said the government is open to feedback and is working to improve arrangements at the mega event with the attendance of over 70,000 participants, including foreign government and business leaders.
The Minister, directly in-charge of the event, said the response to the Summit has been overwhelming.
“This is the biggest AI Summit in the world. The response was phenomenal. The energy is palpable,”Vaishnaw said addressing a press conference at Bharat Mandapam, the venue of the event.
If anybody has faced any problems yesterday, we apologise for that,” he added.
His apology came after several exhibitors and participants complained about the arrangements on the first day of the five-day Summit, which began yesterday.
Some said they lost items while some others said they were asked to vacate their stalls, having sophisticated and costly equipment, during security sweeps, without being told when to return.
Reskill company founder Punit Jain said exhibitors and delegates waited outside halls for hours without clear communication.
“If access was limited to select guests, it should have been communicated upfront. This is not how we build India’s AI future,” he said.
Co-founder and CEO of Neo Sapien Dhananjay Yadav said “The opening day turned into a pain”.
He alleged that the start-up’s AI wearable devices, brought by him to showcase at the Summit, went missing from the company’s stall during a security clearance operation.
“There was a sudden evacuation ahead of security checks for the inauguration by Prime Minister Narendra Modi… We paid for flights, accommodation, logistics and even the booth, only to see our devices disappear inside a high-security zone,” he posted on social media.
Entrepreneur Priyanshu Ratnakar complained about long queues, exhibitors being locked out of stalls, weak Wi-Fi and mobile networks, and repeated registration glitches.
“VIPs walked past massive queues while founders stood outside. It showed a lack of respect for builders,” he said.
