Bill Gates pulls out of India AI summit, internet speculates

American entrepreneur and philanthropist, Bill Gates will has reportedly pulled out from the AI Impact Summit set to held in Delhi, India and will therefore not be delivering his keynote address.

The Gates Foundation announced the decision without providing any reason. However, the internet thinks his absence could be due to the inclusion of his name in the controversial Epstein files.

Bill Gates cancels India trip after his name appears in the Epstein Files

The US Department of Justice has begun releasing the controversial Epstein Files, which reveals the names of people who had ties to Jeffrey Epstein, a convicted sex offender and child sex trafficker who was found dead inside his prison cell.

Bill Gates name, is one of the many famous names to have appeared on the Files. In light of these developments, the Gates Foundation announced that Bill Gates will not be participating in the AI Impact Summit in India after "careful consideration". In his place, the President of the Gate Foundation's Africa and India offices, Ankur Vora, will deliver the keynote address, they announced.

While the 70-year-old businessman's representatives have denied any relationship between Bill and Epstein, dubbing it "completely false", the internet is left wondering what may have caused such a decision.

While many demanded to know the reason, some agreed with the decision. "whats the exact reason of this withdrawal?", one user asked. "Good for India. Stop inviting criminals", one person said. One user joked, "Man probably found out school kids were not going to be among the audience.". "Is it because of Galgotia University or The Epstein files?", another comment read.

A part of the statement released by the Gates Foundation read, "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 India AI Impact Summit had begun on February 16, 2026 and will end on February 20, 2026. While Bill Gates will not be a part of it as he was supposed to, the summit is set to host big names who will deliver speeches on Thursday, such as Google CEO Sundar Pichai, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei.

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