#3: India AI Summit, AI Prosthetics in Pakistan, UN Global AI Fund

Impact Signals #3: India AI Summit Opens as First Global South Host, AI Prosthetics Transform Lives in Pakistan, UN Proposes Global AI Fund AI for Impact Daily Briefing — February 15, 2026 The India AI Impact Summit 2026 kicks off tomorrow in New Delhi — the first major global AI summit hosted in the Global South, with 700+ sessions and attendees including UN SG Guterres, Pichai, Altman, Amodei, and Gates. Meanwhile, UN Women and Bioniks Technologies are delivering AI-powered prosthetic limbs to women in Pakistan, and UN SG Guterres proposed a Global Fund on AI at the African Union Summit. TOP STORIES 1. India AI Summit Opens Tomorrow — First Global AI Summit in the Global South 700+ sessions at Bharat Mandapam, New Delhi (Feb 16-20). Theme: "People, Planet, and Progress." 4,650+ AI challenge applications on healthcare, climate, and inclusive growth. UN side events showcase UNICEF, WHO, UNDP deployments. 2. AI-Powered Prosthetics Transform Lives in Pakistan Bioniks Technologies + UN Women deliver AI prosthetic limbs for women in Sindh province who lost hands to fodder-cutting machines. Lightweight bionic arms enable return to hand embroidery — their primary income source. 3. UN SG Proposes Global Fund on AI at AU Summit At 39th AU Summit in Addis Ababa, Guterres proposed a Global Fund on AI for developing nations. Nations missing AI adoption risk falling 50 years behind. Targets African data sovereignty and compute ownership. 4. AXA + Planet Labs for Real-Time Disaster Monitoring Planet Labs' near-daily satellite imagery integrated into AXA's AI risk platform. Monitors and predicts floods, wildfires, hurricanes in near-real-time. Direct humanitarian applications. 5. SPARC AI: GPS-Denied Drone Navigation for SAR Software-only update enables drones in GPS-jammed environments using ML + visual cues. Critical for conflict zones and disaster areas. Zero-signature protects humanitarian workers. 6. 60-Day Flood Forecasting Framework CNNs + hydrological modeling achieve 60-day streamflow forecasting — extending early warning from days to months. 7. East Africa Drought: 4.6M Affected Severe drought across Somalia, Ethiopia, Kenya. 135K+ displaced in Somalia. Copernicus EMS + FEWS NET satellite-AI systems actively tracking conditions. 8. OpenStreetMap Photon 1.0.0 Major geocoder update reduces hardware needs — field teams run offline search on laptops in disaster zones. UPCOMING: India AI Summit (Feb 16-20, New Delhi). Sankalp Africa Summit (Feb 25-26, Nairobi). AI for Good Hackathon (Mar 14, Waterloo). AAAI AI+HADR Symposium (Apr 7-9, Burlingame). ACTIVE MONITORING: East Africa drought — 4.6M affected. Forest fires across Myanmar, Cambodia, Ethiopia, Senegal, Guinea, CAR. Colombia flooding. South Sudan — 280K displaced. Haiti displacement. Full research, sources, and links at impactsignalsai.substack.com