Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates pulled out of the AI Impact Summit on Thursday morning, hours before he was to deliver a keynote address, purportedly “to ensure the focus remains on the AI Summit’s key priorities”.
His decision comes amid questions about his association with the deceased
child sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, spurred by the release of a new set of documents by the US department of justice.
That Gates will not be delivering the keynote address was announced early on Thursday morning by Gates Foundation India.
On Tuesday, the Foundation had said Gates would be participating as scheduled after the media, quoting government sources, reported that he would skip the event.
“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 Foundation said in a post on X.
“The Gates Foundation will be represented by Ankur Vora, President of Africa and India Officers, who will speak later today at the Summit.”
The Foundation did not say why Gates had pulled out at the eleventh hour, but government sources had been saying since Tuesday that he would not be attending the event.
A PTI report had suggested that Gates would stay away as his name had figured in the Epstein files and his participation might create some discomfort.
All through this, there was no official word from the government. IT minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, asked about it on Tuesday, had said he had forgotten who was attending and who was not.
Gates has not been charged with any wrongdoing but his name has been mentioned several times in theEpstein files.
In a recent interview to 9News Australia, the billionaire philanthropist described certain claims made about him by Epstein in an unsent email as false. He also expressed regret and apologised for the time spent with Epstein.
Gates has been in India this week. He has visited Andhra Pradesh where he met NDA partner and chief minister N. Chandrababu Naidu.
He was in Delhi on Wednesday, going by posts put out by Achyuta Samanta, founder of the Odisha-based Kalinga Institute of Industrial Technology, who said he had met Gates on the sidelines of the AI Impact Summit.
Shiv Sena (UBT) member Priyanka Chaturvedi welcomed Gates’s decision to pull out of the summit.
“Much needed. The arrogance of power tamed. No keynote, No presence, No welcome on an International platform hosted by India. Well done, India,” she said in a post on X.
In another post, she wrote: “And yes all the defenders of Bill Gates when I first tweeted my outrage, media guys seeking his interviews in Davos and staying silent on the keynote back home — Justice for women matters, fight for their right and dignity is a worthy fight. Have the moral courage, the world is watching.”