After repeated back and forth, Bill Gates has decided not to attend the India AI Impact Summit 2026. Gates was scheduled to deliver a keynote address this Thursday, the fourth day of the summit, at Bharat Mandapam.
The Gates Foundation on Thursday confirmed that its chairman won't attend the meeting "after careful consideration". Recently, Gates has been in focus over his alleged links mentioned in the Epstein files.
— Gates Foundation India (@BMGFIndia) February 19, 2026
Representing the Gates Foundation, Ankur Vora will be attending the summit.
"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 will be represented by Ankur Vora, President of Africa and India Offices, who will speak later today at the Summit," read the Gates Foundation statement.
They also noted that the Gates Foundation remains fully committed to our work in India to advance our shared health and development goals.
The latest decision came just a day after the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation dismissed speculation that he would deliver the keynote speech at the summit.
The announcement came against the backdrop of the tech billionaire facing growing scrutiny and online backlash over his name appearing several times in the recent email shared by the US Justice Department related to the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
Earlier this week, Gates arrived in India for a visit to Andhra Pradesh. He met Chief Minister N. N. Chandrababu Naidu and Deputy Chief Minister K. Pawan Kalyan. He was received at the Gannavaram Airport by Minister for Human Resources Development Nara Lokesh.
Gates’s 2026 visit to India was shadowed by significant social media backlash. Critics leveraged recent disclosures from the Epstein files to question his presence, while others reignited long-standing concerns that his philanthropic initiatives treat the Indian population as a 'testing ground' for experimental products
Gates has already refuted the allegations linked to the Epstein files as “absolutely absurd and completely false.”
