Rabat – Bill Gates abruptly withdrew from the India AI Impact Summit today, canceling a keynote appearance just hours before he was scheduled to speak as scrutiny intensified around his past interactions with the late financier and convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein.
Gates’ absence delivered a blow to an event that India has pitched as a milestone in global artificial intelligence cooperation, even as it continues to grapple with organizational challenges and public frustration.
The summit, which opened earlier this week in New Delhi, has drawn more than $200 billion in investment pledges for AI infrastructure, including a $110 billion plan announced by Reliance Industries and a partnership between Tata Group and OpenAI.
But the mood among participants has been clouded by logistical difficulties, traffic snarls across the capital, and complaints from researchers and companies frustrated by poor planning.
Representatives from the Gates Foundation, which he co-founded with his then-wife in 2000, said Gates would no longer deliver his address to ensure “the focus remains on the AI Summit’s key priorities.”
In recent weeks, U.S. Justice Department emails that included correspondence involving Epstein and staff at the foundation were released, prompting renewed attention to Gates’ past. A foundation official declined to say whether the withdrawal was connected to that scrutiny.
Gates has previously said his meetings with Epstein were confined to philanthropy-related discussions, but acknowledged that they were a mistake.
In Gates’ absence, the foundation’s chief strategy officer and head of Africa and India, Ankur Vora, spoke at the event. The withdrawal followed the earlier cancellation of Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, further denting the roster of top tech leaders expected to attend. Other leaders present included Google CEO Sundar Pichai, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, and Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, speaking alongside French President Emmanuel Macron, urged vigilance in protecting children on AI platforms, likening the need for safeguards to the careful curation of a school curriculum.
A staged photograph intended to signal unity among tech executives produced an awkward moment when rival CEOs Altman and Amodei stood side by side but did not join hands.
Despite the high investment figures, the summit has been marked by frustration. Exhibition halls were unexpectedly closed to the public, a university was asked to remove its stall after showcasing a robotic dog made in China as its own invention, and repeated road closures to accommodate VIP movement sparked anger among attendees and residents.
Opposition parties criticized the government for mismanagement, while some researchers took to social media to voice their displeasure with the event’s logistics.
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