As the world witnesses rapid breakthroughs in artificial intelligence, it is also grappling with wars and the erosion of the global order – a paradox that defines the current era, the Chairman and Editor-in-Chief of the India Today Group, Aroon Purie, said on Friday.
Opening the India Today Conclave 2026, themed Breakthroughs and Breakdowns, Purie pointed out humanity is living through one of the most extraordinary technological revolutions while simultaneously witnessing the oldest breakdown of civilisation — war.
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“Scientific discovery, technological capability and economic power are advancing at breathtaking speed. At the same time, institutions are fraying, norms are weakening and the global order is crumbling. That is the paradox of our times,” he said.
Click here to watch full coverage of India Today Conclave Delhi 2026
Purie remarked that even as artificial intelligence reshapes nearly every sphere of life, human instincts remain rooted in older patterns of conflict.
“While our intelligence has become artificial, our instincts can still be primitive,” he said.
He noted that the world is entering a phase where progress and disruption are unfolding simultaneously rather than sequentially.
“We are living in an age where a single miscalculation, whether diplomatic or technological, can erase years of progress. And ironically, some of our most advanced technologies are already shaping how modern warfare is conducted,” Purie added.
Purie said artificial intelligence has rapidly moved from experimentation to real-world deployment, transforming productivity, creativity, governance and everyday life. Capabilities that were once reserved for large organisations are now accessible to individuals, he added.
Highlighting India’s potential in the AI-driven transformation, Purie said the country is well positioned to benefit from the shift.
However, he warned that technological progress could also produce new breakdowns. Artificial intelligence raises difficult questions about work, inequality and social stability, he said, cautioning that productivity gains do not automatically translate into shared prosperity.
“AI is like fire. It can cook your food or burn your house down,” he said, pointing to risks such as deepfakes and algorithms that can rapidly polarise societies.
Further addressing the gathering at the India Today Conclave, Purie also pointed to deeper global challenges, including climate change and the erosion of trust in institutions, information and leadership. Democracies, he said, weaken gradually when disagreement turns into disloyalty and facts become optional.
Here is the full text of Aroon Purie’s address at India Today Conclave Delhi 2026:
Esteemed guests,
Good morning
A very warm welcome to you to the 23rd edition of the India Today Conclave.
It is also a special occasion since India Today magazine has completed 50 years of publication.
If you look at what the India Today Group is today, you will see a multi-media powerhouse reaching the minds of 750 million people. Yet it all began with a single magazine. The fountainhead from which everything else flowed. A foundation now 50 years deep.
As Editor-in-Chief through this half-century, I have had the privilege of watching history unfold from a ringside seat.
Over these decades, I have seen a nation capable of dramatic transformation. From a country that was not only an LDC (Less Developed Country) but also a RDC (Refuse-to-Develop Country), India has become one of the world’s fastest-growing major economies.
That journey has seen us pass through terrorism, social upheaval, polarisation, riots, assassinations, natural disasters and wars. Yet, we have endured.
Above all, we have survived as a democracy, imperfect but resilient, and that alone is reason enough for gratitude and pride.
This year it seems the conclave had a date with history. The theme for the conclave – Breakthroughs and Breakdowns – was decided many months ago. Little did we know then that a full-scale war would erupt not so far from us, reminding us of how fragile global stability can be.
On the one hand, it messed up our conclave programme as many of our foreign speakers were unable to travel. On the other hand, what better time to take stock of the world without illusions and reflect on where we are heading?
That has always been the purpose of our conclaves.
We are living through one of the most extraordinary Breakthroughs in human history – Artificial Intelligence.
Yet we are witnessing the oldest Breakdown of human civilisation: WAR.
Scientific discovery, technological capability and economic power are advancing at breathtaking speed. At the same time, institutions are fraying, norms are weakening and the global order is crumbling. That, Ladies and Gentlemen, is the paradox of our times.
While our intelligence has become Artificial, our instincts can still be Primitive.
We are living in an age where a single miscalculation, whether diplomatic or technological, can erase years of progress. And ironically, some of our most advanced technologies are already shaping how modern warfare is conducted.
Progress and disruption are no longer sequential. They are simultaneous.
Artificial intelligence has moved from experimentation to deployment. It is reshaping productivity, creativity, governance and everyday life.
Capabilities once reserved for large organisations are now available to individuals.
India stands to benefit enormously from this transformation.
With our scale, skills and digital public infrastructure, we are well placed to convert innovation into opportunity. We are no longer merely consuming technology. We are beginning to shape it.
Yet technology can also produce breakdowns.
AI raises difficult questions about work, inequality and social stability.
Productivity gains do not automatically translate into shared prosperity.
If societies generate wealth faster than they generate inclusion, progress can easily turn into regression.
AI is like fire. It can cook your food or burn your house down. Deepfakes can destroy reputations in seconds. Algorithms can polarise societies faster than we can repair them.
If we exchange our values for efficiency, we lose.
In all this turbulence and transformation, we must remain anchored in our ethics and our independence of judgment.
As an aside, I am sometimes asked whether a robot will one day replace the editor of India Today.
My wife might say a robot who does her bidding without question would certainly be easier to live with!
But journalism is not only about processing information. It is about sensing reality – the atmosphere, the voices, the sentiments, the tensions of a moment. No machine can fully replicate that.
AI will help journalists tell richer stories, but a human must remain in the driving seat, with one foot on the brake.
So, I think I will still have a job. And my wife will continue to suffer me till AI improves.
Beyond technology, we are also witnessing geopolitical shifts.
Globalisation, once the engine of growth, is under strain.
Supply chains are fragmenting.
Trade is becoming politicised.
Efficiency is increasingly being sacrificed at the altar of security.
Yet there is also a breakthrough hidden within this disruption.
President Trump’s bid to reassert American dominance in his second term has without doubt unsettled the old global order. But that has resulted in the world becoming more multipolar, more contested, and more fluid.
For countries like India, this creates space — economic, diplomatic, and strategic.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has ensured that India’s voice carries greater weight today, than at any time in our post-Independence history.
But there are deeper breakdowns we must confront.
Climate change is no longer a distant threat; it is a present reality. Extreme weather, water stress and food insecurity are already reshaping economies and politics.
The Tragedy is that solutions are available, but that collective resolve remains inadequate.
And then there is the erosion of trust – trust in institutions, trust in information, trust in leadership.
Democracies rarely collapse overnight. They weaken gradually, when conversation gives way to shouting, when disagreement becomes disloyalty and when facts become optional.
Democracy needs oxygen. And that oxygen is free speech and a vibrant media.
That is why platforms like the India Today Conclave matter.
For more than two decades, this gathering has brought together leaders, thinkers and critics, not to manufacture agreement, but to sharpen understanding.
In an age defined by breakthroughs and breakdowns, this role becomes even more important.
The defining question before us is not whether the world will change.
It already has.
The real questions are whether we can convert breakthroughs into lasting progress without triggering dangerous breakdowns.
Can innovation coexist with inclusion? Can growth align with sustainability? Can power be exercised with restraint?
Over the next two days, you will hear many answers. Some optimistic, some unsettling and some sharply opposed.
That is exactly the point.
Listen closely. Argue vigorously. Disagree respectfully.
Because in times like these, the greatest danger is not disruption.
It is complacency.
Ladies and gentlemen, Welcome to Breakthroughs and Breakdowns at the India Today Conclave 2026.
Enjoy the Conclave. Thank you
– Ends
Published On:
Mar 13, 2026 11:52 IST
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