Bill Gates cancels Delhi summit speech to ‘ensure focus’ on AI

Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates on Thursday cancelled his keynote address at the India AI Impact Summit in Delhi, with his philanthropic organisation saying he wanted to ensure that the event remained focussed on artificial intelligence.

The Gates Foundation said in a statement that the decision had been taken “after careful consideration” and “to ensure the focus remains on the AI Summit’s key priorities”.

The foundation will be represented by Ankur Vora, the president of its India and Africa offices, who will speak at the event on Thursday.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, French President Emmanuel Macron and executives of several major technology companies such as Google and Open AI, are scheduled to speak about the threats and opportunities relating to artificial intelligence.

The summit, which began on Monday and will end on Friday, is being promoted as the first major gathering on artificial intelligence in the Global South. Twenty world leaders, officials from major technology companies and exhibitors from 30 countries are attending the event.

The foundation’s comment about the focus not remaining on artificial intelligence if Gates speaks was an apparent reference to the Microsoft co-founder being named in the Epstein files.

The “Epstein files” refer to millions of documents, emails, photos and videos released by the US Department of Justice detailing the activities...

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