Bill Gates withdraws from India AI Summit keynote hours before scheduled address
7 Sources
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Bill Gates pulls out of India's AI summit amid Epstein files controversy
Bill Gates will not deliver his keynote address at the India AI Impact Summit in Delhi, his philanthropic organisation said hours before the Microsoft co-founder was due to speak. The Gates Foundation said the decision was made after "careful consideration" and "to ensure the focus remains on the
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Inside India's AI Impact Summit: Robot fraud, gridlocked roads, a shirtless protest, and AWOL Bill Gates | Fortune
Yoshua Bengio, like many participants of India's AI impact Summit, was running late. By 6 p.m., the New Delhi roads were too gridlocked for the deep learning pioneer, known as one of the "godfathers" of AI, to successfully make it to an event discussing the International AI Safety report he
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Bill Gates Abruptly Cancels AI Summit Keynote Just Hours Before Taking the Stage -- What We Know
Bill Gates was scheduled to deliver a keynote at the AI Impact Summit in New Delhi -- one of the largest artificial-intelligence conferences in the Global South. Just hours before he was set to take the stage, he abruptly canceled. "After careful consideration, and to ensure the focus remains on
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Bill Gates to skip AI Summit keynote - The Economic Times
Microsoft founder Bill Gates will not deliver his scheduled keynote address at the ongoing AI Impact Summit, organisers said on Thursday. The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation will instead be represented by Ankur Vora, president of its Africa and India offices, who is set to speak later in the
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Bill Gates pulls out of AI Summit hours before his keynote address
AI Summit news: Bill Gates has withdrawn from the AI Summit in Delhi just hours before his keynote address, with Ankur Vora replacing him. Government sources suggested his name appearing in files related to Jeffrey Epstein may have influenced the decision. Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang also pulled out
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India AI summit stumbles as Bill Gates pulls out, chaos mounts
Image credit: Getty Images Bill Gates pulled out of India's AI Impact Summit hours before his scheduled keynote address on Thursday, dealing another blow to a flagship event already marred by organisational lapses, a robot row and delegate complaints over traffic disruptions. Gates' absence,
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Chaos at major AI summit as scandal-plagued Bill Gates abruptly backs...
Bill Gates abruptly backed out of giving the keynote address at a major AI summit in India on Thursday, in the wake of recently released emails shedding light on his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein. The six-day event in New Delhi was billed as the first forum of its kind in the global south and
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Bill Gates abruptly canceled his keynote at India's AI Impact Summit just hours before taking the stage, with the Gates Foundation citing a need to keep focus on the summit's priorities. The withdrawal came amid ongoing controversy over his ties to Jeffrey Epstein, though Gates has denied wrongdoing. The summit, aimed at positioning India as a global AI hub, faced multiple logistical challenges including traffic chaos and organizational issues.
Bill Gates Withdrawal Disrupts India AI Summit
Bill Gates pulled out of the India AI Summit keynote address just hours before his scheduled appearance at the flagship event in New Delhi
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. The Gates Foundation announced the last-minute withdrawal with minimal explanation, stating the decision was made "after careful consideration" and "to ensure the focus remains on the [summit's] key priorities"1
. Ankur Vora, president of the Gates Foundation's Africa and India offices, replaced Bill Gates as the speaker3
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Source: Gulf Business
The keynote address cancellation was particularly striking given that Bill Gates was already in India and had confirmed his attendance just two days earlier. He had visited Andhra Pradesh on Monday, meeting Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu to discuss initiatives for health, agriculture, education and technology
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. Gates was allocated a 12-minute speaking slot at 11:50 am on February 195
.Jeffrey Epstein Controversy Shadows Decision
The Bill Gates withdrawal comes amid ongoing scrutiny over his ties to late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, following new files released by the US Department of Justice in January
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. Government sources suggested the Jeffrey Epstein controversy may have influenced the decision to pull out5
. Gates's spokesperson called the claims in the files "absolutely absurd and completely false," and the Microsoft co-founder has said he regretted spending time with Epstein1
. Importantly, Bill Gates has not been accused of wrongdoing by any of Epstein's victims, and his appearance in the files does not imply criminal activity1
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Source: New York Post
The Gates Foundation emphasized it remained "fully committed" to its work in India to advance "shared health and development goals"
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. However, the withdrawal represents a significant blow for the summit, which India pitched as a flagship gathering to position the country as a global AI hub1
.Summit Execution Plagued by Logistical Issues
The India AI Summit faced multiple organizational challenges beyond the high-profile withdrawal. New Delhi roads became severely gridlocked due to "VIP movements" - a local practice where police close roads to speed important guests through the city
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. Yoshua Bengio, known as one of the "godfathers" of AI, was stuck in a roadblock for 45 minutes and had to deliver his address via video link2
.Attendees complained of VIP culture at the summit, with long queues, overcrowded rooms, and poor communication infrastructure
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. On the first day, exhibitors were thrown out of the venue with no warning at midday to accommodate a visit from Prime Minister Narendra Modi, with gates closed to attendees until 6 pm2
. The chaos led to theft of display tech from one Indian startup founder, though Delhi police later recovered the devices2
.Related Stories
AI Governance and Global Participation
Despite the logistical issues, the summit attracted major tech leaders including Google CEO Sundar Pichai, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, and Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei
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. Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang also pulled out due to unavoidable circumstances5
. More than 20 heads of state and delegates from over 80 countries gathered in New Delhi for the event2
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Source: Fortune
In his keynote address, Narendra Modi called on the West to advance the democratization of AI by sharing technology with the Global South. "AI must become a tool for inclusion and empowerment, particularly for the Global South," Modi stated
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. He stressed developing "common global standards" to combat deepfakes and fake information1
.The summit produced a diplomatic declaration with 88 countries and international organizations committing to inclusive AI development, voluntary AI governance commitments for frontier companies, and announced over $200 billion in investment pledges
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. Microsoft was among companies making investment pledges to expand AI access and infrastructure in countries like India1
. The five-day summit featured policy discussions, start-up showcases and closed-door meetings on AI governance, infrastructure and innovation1
.References
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