Microsoft cofounder Bill Gates pulled out of India’s AI Impact Summit just hours before he was scheduled to address the event with a keynote speech. The Gates Foundation said in a statement that the decision was made “to ensure the focus remains on the AI summit’s key priorities.”
Rumors had been swirling about Gates’ attendance throughout the week owing to renewed scrutiny over his ties to Jeffrey Epstein. However, just days ago, the foundation confirmed the tech leader was still planning to attend the event.
Gates’ withdrawal comes weeks after the U.S. Department of Justice released emails revealing contact between Gates Foundation staff and Epstein, the late financier and convicted sex offender. The correspondence suggested the two had participated in a series of meetings following Epstein’s release from prison, focused on Gates’ charitable ambitions. Gates has maintained that his dealings with Epstein were limited to discussions about his charitable work, and has said meeting him was an error of judgment.
The foundation told Fortune that it will be represented by Ankur Vora, president of its Africa and India offices, at the summit, and said it “remains fully committed to our work in India to advance our shared health and development goals.”
Gates’ absence is the latest hiccup for the high-profile summit. Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang also canceled his appearance days before he was scheduled to speak, with Nvidia’s South Asia managing director, Vishal Dhupar, citing illness as the reason. The company told Fortune it had asked senior executive Jay Puri to lead its delegation at the summit in Huang’s place.
The event, which has been billed as the first major AI forum in the Global South, was also criticized by delegates and speakers for organizational chaos and poor communication. The Delhi traffic has also been difficult to navigate, causing side events around the city to start late and, in at least one case, a main speaker to miss an event entirely.
The city itself has been thrown into chaos by the scores of high-profile politicians and business leaders in town. Roads have been closed for “VIP movement,” leaving many delegates and locals stranded; some attendees described walking miles through Delhi to get out of the conference, with no taxis available and no shuttle services in place.
On Thursday, attendees said the exhibition and main speaker halls were shut to the public without warning, leaving many stuck outside the event. At the same time, delegates said the main hall, where figures like Google DeepMind’s Demis Hassabis are giving keynotes, was less than half full.
The summit also made headlines on Wednesday for ejecting Indian university Galgotias after a staff member presented a commercially available Chinese-made robot dog as its own creation. Government sources confirmed to Fortune that they had asked the university to leave the premises.
