Bill Gates has abruptly cancelled his keynote address at the AI Impact Summit in Delhi, just hours before he was due to speak, as questions continue to surround his relationship with the late financier Jeffrey Epstein. The Microsoft co-founder had been advertised to address delegates shortly after India's prime minister, Narendra Modi, at the international event.
The Gates Foundation said in 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 announcement came less than 48 hours after the foundation had insisted Gates would attend and deliver his speech as scheduled.
The late-January release of Epstein files had reignited controversy over Gates's ties to the disgraced financier, who died by suicide in 2019. Gates has said he regrets ever knowing Epstein and has denied as “false” a claim, contained in a draft email by Epstein, that he hid a sexually transmitted disease from his then-wife. His ex-wife, Melinda French Gates, said the release of the files brought back “memories of some very, very painful times in my marriage”.
The foundation stressed it remains “fully committed to our work in India” and will be represented at the summit by Ankur Vora, president of its Africa and India offices. Other prominent speakers include French President Emmanuel Macron, India's richest man Mukesh Ambani, OpenAI chief Sam Altman, Google chief Sundar Pichai, and White House AI adviser Sriram Krishnan.
Meanwhile, UN Secretary-General António Guterres warned tech leaders that the future of AI cannot be left to “the whims of a few billionaires” and called for a $3bn global fund to ensure open access to the technology. Former UK chancellor George Osborne, now at OpenAI, and former prime minister Rishi Sunak, who advises Anthropic and Microsoft, also addressed the summit.
