At a time when artificial intelligence is moving from experimentation to systems that shape economies, governance and daily life, the session “Humanity in the Loop – Balancing Innovation and Ethics in the Age of AI” at the India AI Impact Summit 2026 made a decisive argument: trust is not a downstream outcome of innovation, it is a design choice. Bringing together leaders from multilateral institutions, legislatures, industry and public policy, the discussion focused on how ethical reflection, human oversight and risk-based regulation must be embedded into the architecture of AI from the very beginning if the technology is to scale democratically and deliver real societal value.