Web Desk: Bill Gates withdrew from India’s flagship AI Impact Summit just hours before he was due to deliver a keynote address on Thursday, compounding setbacks for an event already troubled by logistical chaos, high-profile cancellations and mounting delegate frustration.
Organisers had billed the gathering as the first major artificial intelligence forum in the Global South, aimed at positioning India as a central voice in global AI governance. Instead, the opening days have exposed management gaps that critics say risk overshadowing the summit’s ambitions.
The Gates Foundation said the billionaire philanthropist would not attend in order to keep attention on the summit’s broader agenda. Earlier in the week, foundation officials had publicly dismissed speculation about his absence.
Gates’ withdrawal follows renewed scrutiny after the U.S. Department of Justice released emails last month that included correspondence between foundation staff and the late financier Jeffrey Epstein. Gates has said his interactions with Epstein were limited to philanthropic matters and that meeting him was an error in judgment.
Shortly after Gates’ cancellation, Jensen Huang, chief executive of Nvidia, also pulled out, further denting the summit’s star power.
Despite the turbulence, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed the gathering alongside French President Emmanuel Macron and technology leaders including Sundar Pichai Sam Altman and Dario Amodei.
Modi urged stronger safeguards for children using AI platforms, arguing that digital systems should reflect the same care applied to school curricula. Leaders later appeared together on stage in a show of unity behind India’s AI ambitions.
The government has promoted the summit as a platform to amplify developing nations’ perspectives in shaping AI rules and standards. Officials say more than $100 billion in AI-related investments were pledged during the event, including commitments from the Adani Group, Microsoft and data centre operator Yotta. New Delhi projects that total promises could exceed $200 billion over the next two years.
However, analysts caution that rapid expansion of AI infrastructure could strain India’s electricity grid and water resources if not carefully managed.
Meanwhile, organisational missteps have drawn sharp criticism from participants.
Authorities abruptly closed exhibition halls to the public on Thursday, angering companies that had invested in elaborate stalls. Earlier in the week, police sealed off major roads in parts of the capital to facilitate VIP movements, triggering traffic gridlock across the city of nearly 20 million people.
Videos circulating on social media showed attendees walking long distances after road closures left them without taxis or shuttle services. Opposition lawmaker Mahua Moitra wrote online that poor planning had damaged India’s international image.
Inside the venue, delegates reported overcrowded halls, long queues and last-minute changes to session schedules. Some speakers said they were still awaiting confirmation of panel appearances even as the summit got underway. Journalists described confusion over digital and physical accreditation passes, complicating access to interviews and press briefings.
In one widely shared incident, organisers asked Galgotias University to dismantle its exhibit after a staff member presented a commercially available robotic dog manufactured in China as an in-house innovation, prompting public backlash.
The summit, which runs through Feb. 20 and is expected to draw more than 250,000 participants, represents a high-stakes opportunity for Modi’s government to showcase India as a rising AI hub.
Yet the disarray of the opening days has prompted questions about whether the country can match its technological aspirations with effective execution.
As global competition in artificial intelligence intensifies, India faces a clear test: restore confidence in its organisational capacity or risk allowing early missteps to define a summit designed to project leadership.
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