Microsoft founder Bill Gates will not deliver his keynote address at the India AI Impact Summit in New Delhi, his philanthropic organisation confirmed hours before he was scheduled to speak.

The Gates Foundation, without providing any details, said the decision was taken after “careful consideration” to ensure the focus remained on the summit’s key priorities. 

While Ankur Vora, president of the foundation’s Africa and India offices, will address the summit in his place, the organisation said it remained committed to its work in India to advance health and development goals.

 

The withdrawal comes amid renewed scrutiny over Gates’s past meetings with Jeffrey Epstein, following the release of files by the US Department of Justice in January. A spokesperson for Gates, however, described the claims linked to the files as “absolutely absurd and completely false”.

 

Gates has previously said he regretted spending time with Epstein. He has not been accused of wrongdoing by any of Epstein’s victims, and the mention of his name in the documents does not indicate criminal activity.

He is currently in India and earlier this week visited Andhra Pradesh, where discussions were held on health, agriculture, education and technology initiatives. His foundation had said on Tuesday that he would speak at the summit after reports suggested he might pull out.

The five-day India AI Impact Summit has been positioned by the government as a platform to advance the country’s role in artificial intelligence. However, it has already been marked by some controversies over mismanagement.

Among other issues, an embarrassing episode that made global headlines was an Indian university’s claims to have developed a robot dog, which turned out to be made in China.