Bill Gates withdrew from his scheduled keynote address at India’s flagship AI Impact Summit just hours before he was due to speak on Thursday, compounding difficulties for an event already plagued by organizational failures and a viral robot controversy.
“After careful consideration, and to ensure the focus remains on the AI Summit’s key priorities, Mr. Gates will not be delivering his keynote address,” the Gates Foundation said in a statement.
The cancellation follows the release of draft emails last month by the US Justice Department showing communications between convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and Gates Foundation staff. Gates has denied any wrongdoing and called meetings with Epstein a mistake.
The abrupt withdrawal dealt another blow to the summit, billed as the first major AI forum in the Global South, where Prime Minister Narendra Modi appeared alongside tech executives including Google CEO Sundar Pichai, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei.
The summit has been marred by management lapses that left attendees frustrated. On Wednesday, authorities ordered Galgotias University to vacate its exhibition stall after a faculty member presented a commercially available robotic dog made by China’s Unitree Robotics as the university’s own creation. The robot, sold online for around INR 2 to Rs 3 lakh, was identified by internet users shortly after video from the event went viral. University representatives had initially claimed the device, named Orion, had been developed by its Centre of Excellence.
The incident sparked massive criticism and forced Galgotias to issue an apology, stating that the staff member had been ill-informed and spoke without authorization. The university later cleared that it had purchased the robot as an educational tool for students.
Beyond the robot row, the event has been criticized for widespread logistical failures. Attendees reported long queues, restricted access to exhibition halls, patchy internet connectivity and UPI payment failures at food counters. Some also reported limited access to food and water and said their products were stolen from their stalls.
On Thursday, organizers shut the exhibition halls to the public in a surprise move that angered participating companies. The venue compound was largely deserted after three days of large crowds. Police closed major roads across central Delhi to facilitate VIP movement, creating severe traffic disruptions in the city of 20 million. Videos circulated on social media showed scores of summit attendees walking for miles as roads were blocked, with no shuttle services arranged and limited taxi availability.
Gates’ absence followed an earlier high profile cancellation by NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang, who withdrew days before the event citing unforeseen circumstances. The five day summit runs through February 20 at Bharat Mandapam and features ministers and delegates from more than 45 countries.
