Invoice Gates cancels India AI summit speech

[ad_1] Invoice Gates speaks in the course of the Gates Basis's first world Goalkeepers occasion within the Nordics, which is being held in Stockholm, Sweden, Jan. 22, 2026.

TT Information Company | Stefan Jerrevang | Through Reuters

Invoice Gates has grow to be a supply of controversy at this week's high-profile India AI Influence Summit, as hypothesis round his deliberate keynote handle in the end ended along with his withdrawal on the final minute.

The drama comes because the Microsoft co-founder receives public backlash for his previous relationship with deceased financier and intercourse predator Jeffrey Epstein — with extra particulars on the 2 males's years of communications revealed within the Division of Justice's file drop final month.

The Gates Basis India on Thursday stated the billionaire would skip the handle "[a]fter cautious consideration, and to make sure the main focus stays on the AI Summit's key priorities," including that he would get replaced by one other basis consultant.

The official announcement capped a back-and-forth saga that started earlier this week when local Indian media identified that Gates' identify had been faraway from among the summit's public-facing supplies.

Authorities sources later briefed the media that Gates was not expected to attend the occasion. Nevertheless, the Gates Basis issued a conflicting message on Wednesday, insisting that he was collaborating "as deliberate" earlier than the latest reversal.

Requested in regards to the controversy on Tuesday, India's IT minister Ashwini Vaishnaw instructed reporters that Gates' attendance would come all the way down to "private decisions," including he "needn't remark." The summit organizers and the muse didn't instantly reply to a request for feedback on Gates' absence.

The American tech chief turned philanthropist has been underneath intense scrutiny in latest weeks following the discharge of hundreds of thousands of paperwork associated to financier Jeffrey Epstein underneath the Epstein Recordsdata Transparency Act.

The files included a draft electronic mail written to himself during which Epstein means that he had helped facilitate extramarital affairs and sexual encounters for Gates, amongst different references of the Microsoft co-founder.

In an interview with Australia's 9News final month, Gates denied any wrongdoing, commenting in relation to new recordsdata, calling Epstein's allegations "completely absurd and utterly false."

He emphasised that his interactions with Epstein have been restricted to dinners aimed toward potential philanthropy discussions, including that he "by no means went to the island" and "by no means met any girls."

The New Delhi AI Influence Summit, the place Gates had been scheduled to talk, has seen participation from main tech names resembling Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai, OpenAI's Sam Altman, and Anthropic's Dario Amodei, in addition to a bunch of world leaders together with French President Emmanuel Macron and UN Secretary-Common António Guterres.