Global leaders convene in India to tackle the five existential threats of the AI age, from weaponized algorithms to energy gluttony.

As the AI Impact Summit kicks off in New Delhi this Monday, the mood is less about celebration and more about containment. World leaders, tech titans, and civil society delegates have gathered to confront a technology that is evolving faster than humanity’s ability to govern it. The agenda is dominated by five "hot issues" that represent the fault lines of our new digital reality: job displacement, rogue autonomous agents, energy consumption, regulation, and the ultimate nightmare—existential risk.

The backdrop of New Delhi is symbolic. India, the world’s back office, stands on the precipice of an AI-induced employment crisis. The summit’s "Human Capital" working group has already warned that generative AI threatens to hollow out the very outsourcing industries that powered India’s economic rise.

The Five Horsemen of AI

1. Job Loss Fears: The displacement is no longer theoretical. From software coding to customer service, AI agents are performing tasks faster and cheaper than humans. The summit is tasked with finding a "transition framework" to prevent mass social unrest.

2. Rogue Bots: The proliferation of "Bad Robots"—AI systems weaponized for cyberattacks, disinformation, or even physical harm—is a top security priority. Delegates are debating a global "kill switch" protocol for autonomous systems.

3. Energy Demands: The dirty secret of clean tech is its carbon footprint. Data centers powering AI models are energy vampires. Tech giants are even exploring nuclear power to feed their servers, a desperate move that creates its own geopolitical risks.

4. The Regulation Race: South Korea’s new AI law, requiring mandatory disclosure of AI-generated content, is being hailed as a model. However, the patchwork of global regulations threatens to Balkanize the internet.

5. "Everyone Dies": It’s the elephant in the room. The fear that Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) could eventually view humanity as an obstacle. While some dismiss this as sci-fi, the presence of safety researchers on the main stage suggests the threat is being taken with deadly seriousness.

This summit is a test of international cooperation. Can a fractured world agree on the rules of the road for a technology that knows no borders? The answers found in Delhi will determine whether AI becomes our greatest tool or our final invention.