Bill Gates (pic) pulled out of India’s AI Impact Summit hours before his scheduled keynote address, dealing another blow to a flagship event already marred by organisational lapses, a robot row and delegate complaints over traffic disruptions.
Gates’ absence, followed by another high-profile cancellation by Nvidia’s Jensen Huang, adds to a difficult opening for a summit billed as the first major artificial intelligence forum in the Global South, where India has sought to position itself as a leading voice in worldwide AI governance.
The Gates Foundation said the billionaire will not deliver his address “to ensure the focus remains on the AI Summit’s key priorities”.
Gates’ cancellation comes after the US Department of Justice released e-mails last month that included communication between late financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and the Gates Foundation’s staff.
Gates has said the relationship was confined to philanthropy-related discussions and that it was a mistake for him to meet Epstein.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi called for children’s safety on AI platforms as he addressed the gathering yesterday, alongside French President Emmanuel Macron, Google CEO Sundar Pichai, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei.
“We must be even more vigilant about children’s safety.
“Just as a school syllabus is curated, the AI space should also be child- and family-guided,” Modi said.
However, India’s first major AI summit has been marred by management lapses that have left attendees shocked and angry over what they described as a lack of planning by the Indian government.
The summit exhibition halls were shut to the public yesterday in a surprise move that led to more anger among participating companies that had put up stalls and pavilions.
The venue compound was largely deserted after three days of large crowds at the event. — Reuters
