The Greek government’s approach to the galloping development of and challenges posed by AI were outlined by Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis in an address today at the India-AI Impact Summit 2026, in New Delhi.

The IndiaAI mission is an established initiative that places India at the cutting edge of the application of AI in an expansive range of areas, such as research, startups, governmental efficiency, building talents and ethical AI practices, in cooperation with industry giants like IBM, Microsoft, NVIDIA, and Meta, as well as in collaboration with academic institutes.

“The India–AI Impact Summit 2026 marks a defining global inflection point — transitioning from dialogue to demonstrable impact,” according to a statement by the organizers.

“Anchored in the principles of People, Planet, and Progress, it envisions a future where AI advances humanity, fosters inclusive growth, and safeguards our shared planet.”

Global cultural shift must be unifying, spreading benefits

Mitsotakis asserted that AI is not only a massive technological shift, but also a civilizational one.

“The choices that we make today will determine whether AI expands opportunity or whether it deepens divides,” he said.

Beyond the obvious, enormous benefits to tech industry giants – all of which were represented at the highest level at the conference – Mitsotakis stressed that the possibilities opened up by AI must trickle down to a broad spectrum of sectors in individual states.

“Within our countries, governments must ensure that workers are reskilled, small businesses have access to AI tools, public services are upgraded, the farmer, the nurse, the teacher, the small entrepreneur must feel the dividend of this technology in tangible ways. And concerns about significant labour displacement are legitimate and need to be addressed sooner rather than later,” he noted, posing a series of huge challenges and dilemmas that remain to be resolved,” the PM underlined

Regarding Greece, he said that digitization has made public services much more accessible. He also said that his government plans to develop AI in education to “narrow the learning divide”, eve as he extolled advances in telemedicine, predictive analytics, and personalized preventive care, that can “make healthcare much more proactive, shifting it from treatment in hospitals, to prevention at home, and improving the quality of life for all citizens”.

AI and more efficient government

The PM underlined an urgency for states and governments to craft and adopt plans and measures to greatly upgrade software in order to improve efficiency.

“We need [government] to be faster, outcome-oriented, and more open to startups and innovators. Public administrations must invest in their own capacity, digital talent, data infrastructure, and AI literacy across ministries,” he said.

“The countries that succeed in AI will not simply be those that built powerful models, but those that built capable states.”

AI regulation: Greece to restrict social media access for minors

The PM said that in regulating AI at the state level, the youth must be paramount.

“For Greece and for me personally, protecting minors from digital addiction and online harm is a matter of intergenerational solidarity, and a top priority for my government… Greece will very soon announce its own decisions, when it comes to banning the access of minors and adolescents to social media.”

He said that if mega tech companies do not cooperate in such efforts, states, individually and collectively, will have no option but to resort to their own regulation.

“I’m all in favor of extensive dialogue with the big technology companies, but we need to be aware that if that dialogue does not produce concrete results, regulation will be the only answer,” he said.

AI a national power factor, but no country can go it alone

Mitsotakis also stressed that AI is a crucial component of the power and competitiveness of states, but he also noted the need for cooperation between them.

“…AI…is part of national power and interdependencies that are embedded in the AI stack, from semiconductors to cloud infrastructure, from data sets to research collaboration. No country can build this alone. And that is why trusted partnerships matter,” he underlined.

Greece’s partnerships strategy, attracting investment

The PM noted Greece’s efforts to develop its own AI capabilities, particularly in cooperation with its EU partners.

“In Greece, we have built partnerships with all major hyperscalers while at the same time developing sovereign capabilities through EU-supported AI factories and initiatives, led by national champions, attracting investment from across the globe.

Warning against weaponization, excessive regulation

Though it already seems inevitable, for Mitsotakis weaponization of AI represents a clear danger, as does the prospect of excessive regulation.

“A world in which technology is weaponized to coerce its trusted partners, or where excessive regulation becomes a tool to suppress innovation is a world where collective innovation declines,” he stressed.

“If we fragment the AI ecosystem into very rigid blocks, we reduce the gains for all. If we leverage interdependence responsibly, we expand opportunity for all,” he concluded.