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Bill Gates has pulled out of a keynote speech at a high-profile global AI summit in India, as the Gates Foundation continues to manage the fallout from its chair’s interactions with Jeffrey Epstein.
The philanthropic body on Thursday said the last-minute decision was made “after careful consideration” and “to ensure the focus remains on the AI summit’s key priorities”.
The Microsoft co-founder’s withdrawal comes following controversy over Gates’s involvement with Epstein for several years after the financier’s 2008 conviction for soliciting sex from a minor.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi is hosting the summit in New Delhi this week, with the world’s top AI executives including OpenAI’s Sam Altman in attendance, as well as more than 20 heads of state and government, such as French President Emmanuel Macron.
The foundation said on Thursday that its India and Africa chief, Ankur Vora, would give the speech instead of Gates, just hours before it was due to take place. It added that it remained “committed to our work in India to advance our shared health and development goals”.
The $86bn philanthropic body has sought to manage the fallout from the latest tranche of Epstein files, which also included communications between its staff and the disgraced financier over an abortive fundraising plan.
The FT reported last week that the foundation’s chief executive Mark Suzman told employees in a town hall event that he felt “sullied” by its association with Epstein.
Gates has not been accused of involvement in Epstein’s sexual abuse. Draft emails on Epstein’s account claimed Gates tried to hide a sexually transmitted disease from his then wife Melinda French Gates after having sex with “Russian girls”.
A spokesperson for Gates has said the claims are “absolutely absurd and completely false”, demonstrating only Epstein’s “frustration that he did not have an ongoing relationship with Gates”. Gates has publicly said that he “regrets ever having engaged with Epstein”.
The AI summit will give India, the world’s most populous country, a global platform to try to steer discussion on using and regulating artificial intelligence and to showcase its record on leveraging technology for development. It is the first such conference to be held in the global south.