Invoice Gates speaks through the Gates Basis’s first world Goalkeepers occasion within the Nordics, which is being held in Stockholm, Sweden, Jan. 22, 2026.
TT Information Company | Stefan Jerrevang | Through Reuters
Invoice Gates has turn out to be a supply of controversy at this week’s high-profile India AI Impression Summit, as hypothesis round his deliberate keynote tackle in the end ended together with his withdrawal on the final minute.
The drama comes because the Microsoft co-founder receives public backlash for his previous relationship with deceased financier and intercourse predator Jeffrey Epstein — with extra particulars on the 2 males’s years of communications revealed within the Division of Justice’s file drop final month.
The Gates Basis India on Thursday stated the billionaire would skip the tackle “[a]fter cautious consideration, and to make sure the main focus stays on the AI Summit’s key priorities,” including that he would get replaced by one other basis consultant.
A spokesperson for Gates informed CNBC individually that whereas he has acknowledged assembly Epstein was a severe error in judgment, he “unequivocally denies any improper conduct associated to Epstein and the horrible actions by which Epstein was concerned.”
“Mr. Gates by no means visited Epstein’s island, by no means attended events with him, and had no involvement in any unlawful actions related to Epstein,” the spokesperson stated.
The official announcement capped a back-and-forth saga that started earlier this week when native Indian media identified that Gates’ identify had been faraway from a few of the summit’s public-facing supplies.
Authorities sources later briefed the media that Gates was not anticipated to attend the occasion. Nevertheless, the Gates Basis issued a conflicting message on Wednesday, insisting that he was collaborating “as deliberate” earlier than the current reversal.
Requested in regards to the controversy on Tuesday, India’s IT minister Ashwini Vaishnaw informed reporters that Gates’ attendance would come all the way down to “private decisions,” including he “needn’t remark.” The summit organizers and the muse didn’t instantly reply to a request for feedback on Gates’ absence.
The American tech chief turned philanthropist has been underneath intense scrutiny in current weeks following the discharge of thousands and thousands of paperwork associated to financier Jeffrey Epstein underneath the Epstein Information Transparency Act.
The information included a draft e-mail written to himself by which Epstein means that he had helped facilitate extramarital affairs and sexual encounters for Gates, amongst different references of the Microsoft co-founder.
In an interview with Australia’s 9News final month, Gates denied any wrongdoing, commenting in relation to new information, calling Epstein’s allegations “completely absurd and utterly false.”
He emphasised that his interactions with Epstein had been restricted to dinners aimed toward potential philanthropy discussions, including that he “by no means went to the island” and “by no means met any girls.”
The New Delhi AI Impression Summit, the place Gates had been scheduled to talk, has seen participation from main tech names equivalent to Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai, OpenAI’s Sam Altman, and Anthropic’s Dario Amodei, apart from a bunch of worldwide leaders together with French President Emmanuel Macron and UN Secretary-Common António Guterres.
The Gates Basis has invested in India throughout well being and growth, and has additionally backed initiatives associated to AI.
