Matthew Prince, CEO of Cloudflare, told the India AI Impact Summit 2026 in New Delhi that artificial intelligence (AI) needs to be democratised so that its benefits are widely shared rather than concentrated in a few companies and countries. He warned that if AI remains controlled by only a handful of powerful firms, its impact will be limited and inequitable — much like how early computing and platforms were dominated by a few players. Instead, Prince said, AI should be designed so that hundreds of thousands of companies worldwide can participate in building and using AI tools.
Prince drew an analogy with the printing press, a transformative technology that spread across Europe and beyond precisely because it wasn’t centrally controlled. He argued that AI should follow a similar model of diffusion, where innovation is distributed rather than monopolised. According to him, this broader participation will not only drive innovation in more places but also help avoid homogenising global culture or imposing one set of values on all users.
Another major theme in Prince’s remarks was the need for sustainable business models that fairly compensate content creators, researchers, journalists, and academics — people whose work fuels AI systems. He criticised current AI deployments that scrape large amounts of content without returning much value to the original creators, saying this approach undermines the economic foundation of the open internet model and puts pressure on publishers and small businesses. Prince stressed that future AI ecosystems should reward creators rather than exploit them.
Prince also emphasised that AI should respect local cultures and languages instead of tending towards cultural homogenisation. He said AI ought to enhance human diversity and accelerate human potential, honouring the unique traditions and knowledge of communities around the world. This vision aligns with wider discussions at the summit about inclusive growth, human-centric AI, and ensuring that the technology supports a diverse and equitable digital future.
