Pune: Students from various colleges showcased 54 projects using artificial intelligence (AI) at a two-day summit organised by the AISSMS Institute of Information Technology (IOIT) on Oct 27 and 28. The projects explored applications ranging from smart cities and sustainability to computer vision and generative AI.According to the institute, AI Summit 2026 was organised by its department of Artificial Intelligence and Data Science to encourage research, innovation and collaboration between educational institutions and industry.AI Innovation Challenge, held on Oct 28, was a key part of the summit. Students presented projects in areas such as Agentic AI, large language models, explainable AI and AI for smart cities. Agentic AI refers to systems that can plan and carry out tasks with limited human intervention.The first prize of Rs 10,000 went to Safiya Khan and Yashas Salian for their project, Brains Behind Brands. Shrushti Pardeshi, Aditya Pawar and Shriharsh Pisal won the second prize of Rs 5,000 for Code Catalyst, while Gargee Bhanage, Dinesh Seervi and Siddhi Pansare secured the third prize of Rs 3,000 for Curio.The summit was inaugurated in the presence of Vivyek Kanchan, director of technical support at BMC Helix, and Sandeep Kumar, general manager at VOIS.The programme included a keynote session on “Agentic AI: The Next Frontier of Intelligent Systems” and an online panel discussion on cybersecurity in AI. The sessions covered emerging AI technologies, digital threats and responsible adoption of AI, the institute said.The event was organised under the guidance of AISSMS Society secretary Chhatrapati Maloji Raje, institute principal Pradeep B Mane and AI&DS department head R A Jamadar. Artificial Intelligence Student Association coordinated the summit, with faculty members overseeing the keynote sessions, panel discussion and innovation challenge.The institute said the summit gave students an opportunity to present their ideas, interact with industry experts and explore practical applications of AI.
