Bill Gates has pulled out of delivering a keynote speech at the AI Impact Summit in India while continuing to face scrutiny over his past association with the late convicted child sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
The Microsoft co-founder and billionaire had arrived in India earlier this week, where his foundation works with the government to apply AI for social good. He was announced as a featured speaker shortly after Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
However, on Thursday morning — just hours before his scheduled appearance — Gates abruptly withdrew from the event, which was also set to host figures including French President Emmanuel Macron and Indian business magnate Mukesh Ambani.
In a statement, the Gates Foundation said: “After careful consideration and to keep the spotlight on the summit’s main priorities, Mr. Gates will not deliver his keynote address.”
This reversal came less than two days after the foundation had confirmed that Gates would attend and speak as planned.
Although no specific reason was cited, renewed attention following the late-January release of additional Epstein files has intensified controversy surrounding Gates’s past links to the disgraced financier.
Gates has previously said he “regrets” ever knowing Epstein. The latest file release included allegations — which Gates strongly denies — that he concealed a sexually transmitted infection from his then-wife after reports emerged about interactions with “Russian girls.”
He dismissed the claim, which appeared in a draft email attributed to Epstein, as “false,” and reiterated his regret over the relationship. Speaking to Australia’s 9News earlier this month, the 70-year-old said: “Every minute I spent with him, I regret.”
Epstein died by suicide in August 2019 at New York’s Metropolitan Correctional Center while awaiting trial on federal sex-trafficking charges. In 2008, he had pleaded guilty in Florida to solicitation of prostitution, including with a minor, and served 13 months of an 18-month sentence.
Melinda French Gates, who was married to Gates until 2021, said the latest document release revived “very, very painful” memories from their marriage.
“Whatever questions remain — I don’t even know the full extent — those are questions for those people, including my ex-husband,” she told NPR. “They need to answer them, not me.”
The Gates Foundation reiterated Thursday that it remains committed to its work in India on shared health and development goals. Ankur Vora, president of the foundation’s Africa and India offices, will represent the organization at the summit.
Other scheduled speakers in Delhi include OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, Google CEO Sundar Pichai, and White House AI adviser Sriram Krishnan. The United Kingdom is represented by Deputy Prime Minister David Lammy and AI minister Kanishka Narayan.
On Wednesday, former UK chancellor George Osborne warned that countries that fail to adopt powerful AI systems — such as those developed by his new employer, OpenAI — risk falling victim to “FOMO” and becoming economically weaker. His message to the summit was: “Don’t be left behind.”
Former UK prime minister Rishi Sunak, now an adviser to OpenAI rival Anthropic as well as Microsoft, also addressed the event.
Sunak urged political leaders to take more decisive action on AI deployment, saying: “If you are prime minister, there are only a few things you can personally drive, and this must be one of them.”
In a separate warning, UN Secretary-General António Guterres told technology leaders that the future of AI must not be left to “the whims of a few billionaires.”
He called on tech leaders to back a $3 billion global fund aimed at ensuring broad, open access to rapidly advancing AI technologies..