Decision comes in the context of new controversy over her past relationship with Jeffrey Epstein
Bill Gates today canceled a speech at the Artificial Intelligence (AI) Impact Summit, just two hours before the scheduled start of the Microsoft founder’s speech in New Delhi.
“After careful consideration, and to ensure that the focus remains on the AI Summit’s key priorities, Mr. Gates will not deliver his keynote address,” the Gates Foundation confirmed.
The organization will be represented by Ankur Vora, president of the Africa and India offices, who will speak at the Summit later today, the foundation said in a statement.
Just two days ago, several media outlets reported Gates’s removal from the list of speakers, to prevent the controversy surrounding the billionaire’s links to sex offender Jeffrey Epstein from overshadowing the event.
In response, on Tuesday, the foundation stated that the invitation “had never been withdrawn” and that Gates would participate as planned at the AI Impact Summit 2026, where he was expected to speak before around 20 global leaders and hundreds of executives from technology giants.
On Wednesday, Indian Technology Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw avoided endorsing the philanthropist’s presence, simply stating that attending or not was a “personal choice”, on which he declined to comment.
In an interview broadcast on February 5, Bill Gates stated that he “regrets every minute” spent with Jeffrey Epstein, but guarantees that he has nothing to blame himself for, while his ex-wife demanded that he explain his relationship with her.
A draft of Jeffrey’s email released on January 30 by the United States Department of Justice, in the batch of documents from the case, mentions Bill Gates’ extramarital relations.
The Microsoft co-founder’s divorce in 2021 had been motivated, in particular, by his relationship with the sex offender, who died in prison in 2019.
In that message, which does not appear to have been sent, Jeffrey Epstein boasted that he had helped “Bill” obtain medicine to “remedy the consequences of sexual relations with Russian girls.”
Questioned by American public radio and television NPR, his ex-wife, Melinda French Gates, said on Tuesday that it was up to Bill Gates and others to provide explanations.
“These questions are for these people and even my ex-husband, they are the ones who should answer, not me,” she said.
“I’m so happy to have moved away from all this mud,” he added, confirming the role played in their split by the past relationship between Bill Gates and Jeffrey Epstein.
Epstein died on August 10, 2019 in a New York federal prison after being charged with multiple counts of sex trafficking of young women and underage girls that could have resulted in a prison sentence of up to 45 years.
