Bill Gates pulls out of India's AI summit amid Epstein files controversy

Hind Al Soulia - Riyadh - NEW DELHI — Microsoft founder Bill Gates will not deliver his keynote address at the India AI Impact Summit in Delhi, his philanthropic organization said hours before he was due to speak.

The Gates Foundation said the decision was made after "careful consideration" and "to ensure the focus remains on the summit's key priorities", but did not elaborate.

Gates's withdrawal comes amid a controversy over his ties to the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein after he was named in new files released by the US Department of Justice in January.

Gates's spokesperson has called the claims in the files "absolutely absurd and completely false", and the billionaire has said he regretted spending time with Epstein.

Gates has not been accused of wrongdoing by any of Epstein's victims and the appearance of his name in the files does not imply criminal activity of any kind.

The Foundation said Ankur Vora, president of its Africa and India offices, would speak at the summit instead of Gates.

The organization added that it remained "fully committed" to its work in India to advance "shared health and development goals".

Gates is currently in India and had visited the southern state of Andhra Pradesh on Monday, where he reportedly discussed initiatives for boosting health, agriculture, education and technology.

The five-day India AI Impact Summit 2026 was meant to showcase India’s ambitions in the booming sector, with the country expecting to attract more than $200bn in investment over the next two years.

India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi had billed the summit as an opportunity for India to shape the future of AI, drawing high-profile attendees, including French President Emmanuel Macron and Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.

Instead, it has been dogged by controversy, from Gates’s abrupt exit to an incident in which an Indian university tried to pass off a Chinese-made robotic dog as its own innovation.

The summit features policy discussions, start-up showcases and closed-door meetings on AI governance, infrastructure and innovation.

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The event has also seen investment pledges by companies, including Microsoft, to expand AI access and infrastructure in countries such as India.

Delegates from more than 100 countries, including several world leaders, are attending the event.

OpenAI boss Altman said in a speech the world should "urgently" look to regulate AI.

"Democratisation of AI is the best way to ensure humanity flourishes," he said, adding that centralising the tech in one company or country "could lead to ruin".

"This is not to suggest that we won't need any regulation or safeguards," Altman added.

"We obviously do, urgently, like we have for other powerful technologies."

Addressing the Summit, Modi said there was a need to share technology "so that humans don't just become a data point for AI or remain a raw material for AI".

"AI must become a medium for inclusion and empowerment, particularly for the Global South," he said.

Macron, who earlier held bilateral talks with Modi, said there was a need to change the discussion around AI from "let's do more" to "let's do better together".

This theme was addressed by other speakers as well, including UN chief Antonio Guterres — who stressed the future of AI should not be "decided by a handful of countries" or left to the "whims of a few billionaires".

Google's chief executive Sundai Pichai underscored India's growing role in the AI landscape.

He said his firm was working on establishing an AI hub in the southern city of Vishakhapatnam, which he said would help bring jobs and cutting-edge AI to Indians.

Billionaire Mukesh Ambani meanwhile pledged to invest $110bn (£81.4bn) over the next seven years to build India's AI ecosystem, while Anthropic boss Amodei said it would like to work with India on "testing and evaluation of models for safety and security risks". — Agencies