Murugan Tells Creators to Pair AI With Constitutional Values at YouTube Summit
At the YouTube Impact Summit 2026 in Delhi, MoS L. Murugan urged creators to use AI responsibly and rooted India's digital growth in constitutional values.
Minister of State for Information & Broadcasting and Parliamentary Affairs Dr. L. Murugan called on India's young digital creators to treat artificial intelligence as a means of empowerment rather than a threat, delivering the keynote address at the YouTube Impact Summit 2026 in New Delhi.
"The future should not be: AI versus creators. It should be: AI empowering creators," he said, asking them to "create with courage, create with responsibility, create with purpose." Technology may change quickly, he added, but constitutional values endure.
The summit was themed "Co-Creating Impact: India's Digital Leadership and the Orange Economy" and drew policymakers, technology leaders, creators, entrepreneurs and innovators.
Scale of the creator economy
A YouTube Impact Report released at the event estimated that the platform's creative ecosystem contributed more than ₹18,000 crore to India's GDP in 2025 and supported over 9.6 lakh full-time-equivalent jobs. Indian content draws more than 15 per cent of its watch time from audiences abroad, and over 18,000 Indian channels have crossed one million subscribers.
Murugan framed the shift as a move from consumers to creators, users to innovators, and content consumption to intellectual-property creation, noting that digital technology has widened access to opportunity across districts, languages and communities.
Orange Economy and AI
Invoking the Prime Minister's "Create in India, Create for the World" vision, the Minister described content, creativity and culture as the three pillars of the Orange Economy, saying creativity can yield jobs, businesses, intellectual property, exports and cultural influence beyond entertainment.
On AI, he said the technology can help creators with writing, translation, editing, animation, composition, design and distribution, while human imagination stays central. Its use, he stressed, should be accessible, responsible and ethical. "Create with AI" films made with the Indian Institute of Creative Technologies were unveiled at the summit.
Government push and digital duties
Murugan listed WAVES, IICT, Create in India Challenges, Gems of India, WAVES Bazaar, MyWAVES and Creator's Corner among efforts to connect creative talent with markets. He also pointed to the Union Budget 2026–27 provision for AVGC content-creator laboratories in 15,000 secondary schools and 500 colleges, citing a projected industry demand for nearly two million professionals by 2030.
Citing Article 19, he said freedom of speech and expression carries reasonable constitutional restrictions, and flagged the Fundamental Duties under Article 51A as a guide for responsible creation, sharing, verification and innovation. He urged creators to carry India's languages, culture and stories to global audiences, linking the digital economy's future to employment, intellectual property, inclusive growth and the Viksit Bharat 2047 goal.
YouTube India Country Managing Director Gunjan Soni, YouTube Vice President for Global Government Affairs and Public Policy Leslie Miller, and Ministry of Information & Broadcasting Joint Secretary Senthil Rajan were present.