Epstein’s shadow: Why Bill Gates pulled out of Modi’s AI summit

Microsoft founder Bill Gates cancelled his keynote speech at India’s India AI Impact Summit 2026 just hours before he was due to take the stage on Thursday, the Gates Foundation said in a statement. Gates withdrew to “ensure the focus remains on the AI Summit’s key priorities,” the foundation stated, after renewed scrutiny over his past ties to the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. The five-day summit, meant to showcase India’s ambitions in artificial intelligence, had been billed as a platform for the country to attract more than $200 billion in investment over the next two years, with high-profile attendees including French President Emmanuel Macron and Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva expected.

The controversy over Gates’s participation intensified after emails featuring his name were released in the Epstein files in late January. In a draft email included among the documents, Epstein alleged Gates had engaged in extramarital affairs and sought his help in procuring drugs “to deal with consequences of sex with Russian girls.” Gates denies any wrongdoing, and the Gates Foundation called the allegations “absolutely absurd and completely false.” Despite calls from opposition figures for an explanation of the invitation, the Indian government did not directly address the controversy, with officials declining to clarify Gates’s absence beyond stating he would not attend the summit.

Separate disclosures in the Epstein files have also drawn scrutiny to Indian officials. An email attributed to Epstein referred to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s historic visit to Israel in July 2017, writing that Modi “took advice” and “danced and sang in Israel for the benefit of the US president.” The Indian Ministry of External Affairs dismissed the email as “trashy ruminations by a convicted criminal,” while opposition parties accused Modi of reversing India’s long-standing support for the Palestinian cause. Additionally, emails showed India’s current oil minister, Hardeep Singh Puri, exchanged dozens with Epstein after joining Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party in 2014, with Puri writing in one message, “Please let me know when you are back from your exotic island,” though Puri later claimed he met Epstein only “three or four times.”

The Gates Foundation has been a key partner in India’s public health and development sectors, supporting vaccination drives, disease prevention campaigns, and sanitation programmes. However, Gates has faced criticism, including from environmental activist Vandana Shiva, who has argued that his philanthropy seeks to control global food systems. In 2024, Gates faced backlash after saying in a podcast that India served as “a kind of laboratory to try things … that then, when you prove them out in India, you can take to other places” in reference to development programmes.

Beyond Gates’s withdrawal, the AI Impact Summit faced multiple logistical and ethical controversies. Galgotias University presented a robotic dog named “Orion” as its own innovation, but online users identified it as a commercially available Chinese-made model, prompting organisers to ask the university to vacate its stall. The event also experienced long queues and confusion over entry procedures on its opening day, while large crowds were seen walking for miles after police cordoned off roads for VIP access. On Wednesday, Dhananjay Yadav, CEO of a company exhibiting high-tech wearables, reported on social media that devices had been stolen from the company’s stand; two maintenance workers were later arrested for the alleged theft.

Based on reporting by Al Jazeera.