Bill Gates withdrew from India’s AI Impact Summit just hours before his scheduled keynote, compounding the challenges of a forum already marked by organisational confusion and attendee frustrations.

The summit, India’s first major artificial intelligence event in the Global South, struggled to meet expectations.

The Gates Foundation stated that Gates would not deliver his address “to ensure the focus remains on the AI Summit’s key priorities.” This comes days after the foundation had dismissed rumours of his absence, insisting he was on track to attend.

High-profile cancellations have included Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, adding further strain to the summit’s credibility. Gates’ withdrawal occurs amid renewed attention on his past meetings with Jeffrey Epstein, which he has said were philanthropy-focused and “a mistake.”

Summit leadership

Despite Gates’ absence, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is scheduled to address the summit on Thursday, joined by French President Emmanuel Macron, Google CEO Sundar Pichai, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, and Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei.

India has positioned the summit as a platform to assert leadership in global AI governance, but organisational issues have overshadowed these ambitions.

Organisational lapses

The event has been plagued by multiple mishaps:

Exhibition halls were unexpectedly closed to the public, angering attendees.
A stall by Galgotias University faced scrutiny after presenting a commercially available robotic dog from China as their own creation.
Social media posts highlighted long walks for delegates in central Delhi due to road closures for VIP movement, lack of taxis, and absent shuttle services.

Attendees expressed frustration over traffic snarls and insufficient logistical planning, which has dominated coverage more than the AI technologies on display.

Context on Gates and the AI summit

The Gates Foundation, established in 2000 by Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates and his then-wife, is a major global health funder. Gates’ decision to withdraw was framed as a measure to keep attention on the summit’s core agenda rather than personal or political matters.

With the U.S. Department of Justice recently releasing emails highlighting Gates’ past interactions with Epstein, speculation around the cancellation has been heightened, though the foundation emphasized the focus remains on the summit’s AI discussions.