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Bill Gates pulls out of India AI Impact Summit hours before scheduled attendance
Bill Gates’ last-minute withdrawal deepens turmoil at India’s flagship AI Summit amid mounting logistical chaos.
Gates' cancellation comes after the U.S. Department of Justice released emails last month that included communication between late financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and the Gates Foundation's staff.(Image: Reuters/Justin Tallis)
Bill Gates cancelled his scheduled attendance at India’s AI Impact Summit just hours before he was due to deliver a keynote on Thursday. In a statement, the Gates Foundation said the billionaire philanthropist would skip the address “to ensure the focus remains on the AI Summit’s key priorities.” The clarification came only days after the foundation had brushed aside speculation about his absence and maintained he would attend as scheduled.
Thursday’s speakers list featured PM Narendra Modi, French President Emmanuel Macron, Sundar Pichai, Sam Altman, and Dario Amodei.
President of the Africa and India offices of Gates Foundation Ankur Vora attended the event in his stead.
— Gates Foundation India (@BMGFIndia) February 19, 2026
Gates’ withdrawal follows another prominent cancellation by Jensen Huang of Nvidia, adding to what has been a rocky start for a conference promoted as the first major artificial intelligence forum hosted in the Global South—an arena where India has aimed to assert leadership in shaping global AI policy.
ALSO READ | At Delhi AI Impact Summit 2026, PM Modi unveils ‘MANAV’ vision for artificial intelligence
The development came weeks after the US Department of Justice released emails referencing exchanges between the late financier Jeffrey Epstein and staff at the foundation. The correspondence suggested Gates met Epstein multiple times after Epstein’s prison sentence to discuss expanding philanthropic initiatives. Gates has said their interactions were limited to charity-related matters and has acknowledged that meeting Epstein was a mistake.
Founded in 2000 by Gates and his then-wife, the foundation—linked to the Microsoft co-founder—is among the world’s largest backers of global health programmes.
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