Bill Gates Withdraws from India AI Summit Amid Epstein Controversy

Hours before he was scheduled to address India’s flagship AI Summit on Thursday (February 19), Bill Gates pulled the plug. The Gates Foundation announced shortly before his keynote address that the Microsoft co-founder would not be delivering the speech, with Ankur Vora, President of the Gates Foundation’s Africa and India Offices, stepping in instead. It is understood that Gates’s withdrawal came as he faced renewed scrutiny over his past ties to Jeffrey Epstein, the disgraced late sex offender and convicted pedophile who died while in custody in 2019. In recent weeks, a new release of files by the US government suggested that Gates met Epstein multiple times after Epstein’s prison sentence to discuss expanding philanthropic initiatives. The Indian government intended to avoid any controversy, which was being anticipated if Gates spoke at the summit. A line in the statement issued by the Gates Foundation read: “After careful consideration, and to ensure the focus remains on the AI Summit’s key priorities, Mr. Gates will not be delivering his keynote address.” The abrupt decision came as a surprise, as the Gates Foundation had claimed that he would be in attendance as late as February 17. What happened in the 48 hours leading up to this decision? The answer lies in a collision between a global controversy and the government’s desire to keep an international summit on track. The ongoing India-AI Impact Summit is a crucial moment in India’s AI journey, as the country wishes to join the global leaders in the space, with a focus on open and accessible AI technologies. World and corporate leaders are in New Delhi to attend the event, which the country hopes will lead to tangible international cooperation on AI, and bring in investments for domestic companies. Already, the Adani Group and Reliance Industries Limited have announced plans to invest billions of dollars in AI and related infrastructure. Gates arrived in India on February 16. His first stop was not Delhi but Andhra Pradesh, where he met Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu , Deputy Chief Minister K Pawan Kalyan, and senior state officials. Yet, even as Gates was being feted in Andhra Pradesh, there were uncertainties over his Delhi visit. The flagship event was dogged by controversy over Gates’s participation, especially after he was named in documents related to Epstein released earlier this year by the US Department of Justice. Though Gates has denied the claims, while regretting his association with Epstein, the fresh scrutiny threatened to overshadow the summit. On February 17, the Union IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw held a press conference. He was asked multiple times whether Gates was still coming and if the schedule would remain unchanged. In response to one of the questions, he said, “Regarding who’s attending, who’s not attending… that’s personal choices which people make, [about] which we should not comment, and I need not comment on that.” According to government sources, officials eventually concluded that allowing Gates to deliver his keynote could cast a shadow over the summit, which has already faced some criticism for organisational and logistical lapses, and an incident featuring a Chinese robot dog being presented as an Indian product by a university. Officials worried that if Gates took the podium, media and social media discourse would pivot entirely toward the Epstein connection rather than India’s artificial intelligence ambitions. Early on February 19, the Gates Foundation issued a statement: “After careful consideration, and to ensure the focus remains on the AI Summit’s key priorities, Mr. Gates will not be delivering his keynote address. The Gates Foundation will be represented by Ankur Vora, President of Africa and India Offices, who will speak later today at the Summit.” “The Gates Foundation remains fully committed to our work in India to advance our shared health and development goals,” it added.