Bill Gates drops out of landmark India AI summit amid criticism over Epstein

Bill Gates will no longer deliver his keynote address at India’s flagship artificial intelligence summit, the Gates Foundation said on Thursday.

The decision comes amid criticism over Mr Gates’s past association with convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein.

Mr Gates was invited as a keynote speaker at the AI Impact Summit, billed as the first such global gathering to be hosted in the developing world. He was among tech giants like Sam Altman and Sundar Pichai, as well as 20 heads of states, invited to be a part of the summit.

However, prime minister Narendra Modi’s government was receiving flak from opposition political parties for including Mr Gates, whose name featured in the latest batch of Epstein files released in January.

In a statement posted by Gates Foundation India, the organisation said: “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 Gates Foundation will be represented by Ankur Vora, President of Africa and India Offices, who will speak later today at the Summit.

“The Gates Foundation remains fully committed to our work in India to advance our shared health and development goals.”

The decision marks a reversal from earlier assurances given to The Independent that Mr Gates would attend and deliver his scheduled address.

Confusion over his participation surfaced earlier in the week when his name briefly disappeared from a list of key speakers on the summit website, prompting speculation in Indian media that his invitation had been “reviewed”.

On Tuesday, however, a spokesperson for Mr Gates dismissed those reports, telling The Independent: “Bill Gates is attending the AI Impact Summit. He will be delivering his keynote as scheduled.”

He had arrived in India earlier this week and met Andhra Pradesh chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu in Amaravati, where he praised the state’s use of artificial intelligence and technology in health, agriculture and education. The Gates Foundation is active in public health and development initiatives in the state.

His visit also prompted small protests in the southern state of Andhra Pradesh.

Epstein once claimed that the billionaire businessman and philanthropist had engaged in extramarital sex, according to an email released by the Department of Justice. Epstein made this claim in a 225-word email he sent to himself on 18 July 2013, with the subject line: “bill.”

In the email, the deceased pedophile financier wrote: “I have decided to resign my position effective immediately with BG3 and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.”

He wrote that, as an associate of Mr Gates, he had been asked to do things that were “potentially over the line into the illegal.” He added that Mr Gates and his then-wife, Melinda Gates, had been caught up in a “severe marital dispute” and that he had helped facilitate “illicit trysts” for the billionaire.

A spokesperson for Mr Gates denied the allegations made in the note. “These claims are absolutely absurd and completely false,” the spokesperson told The Independent at the time. “The only thing these documents demonstrate is Epstein’s frustration that he did not have an ongoing relationship with Gates and the lengths he would go to entrap and defame.”

Earlier, Mr Gates told PBS News that he had dinners with Epstein in the past in the hopes of raising funds for global health. He described the meetings as “a mistake.” Gates Foundation did not provide any further explanation about the changes to Mr Gates’s India schedule.