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Bill Gates pulls out of India's AI summit amid Epstein files controversy
Bill Gates will not deliver his keynote address at the India AI Impact Summit in Delhi, his philanthropic organisation said hours before the Microsoft co-founder was due to speak.
The Gates Foundation said the decision was made after "careful consideration" and "to ensure the focus remains on the [summit's] key priorities", but did not elaborate.
Gates's withdrawal comes amid a controversy over his ties to the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein after he was named in new files released by the US Department of Justice in January.
Gates's spokesperson has called the claims in the files "absolutely absurd and completely false", and the billionaire has said he regretted spending time with Epstein.
Gates has not been accused of wrongdoing by any of Epstein's victims and the appearance of his name in the files does not imply criminal activity of any kind.
The Gates Foundation said that Ankur Vora, president of its Africa and India offices, would speak at the summit instead of Gates.
The organisation added that it remained "fully committed" to its work in India to advance "shared health and development goals".
Though Gates is not attending, there are other big names speaking on Thursday, including OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and French President Emmanuel Macron too spoke at the summit and both called for the democratisation of AI and for a shared approach to innovation.
Modi said there was a need to share technology "so that humans don't just become a data point for AI or remain a raw material for AI".
"AI must become a medium for inclusion and empowerment, particularly for the Global South," he said.
Macron who earlier held bilateral talks with Modi, said there was a need to change the discussion around AI from "let's do more" to "let's do better together".
This was a theme addressed by other speakers as well, including UN chief Antonio Guterres, who stressed that the future of AI should not be "decided by a handful of countries" or left to the "whims of a few billionaires".
Google's CEO Sundai Pichai underscored India's growing role in the AI landscape, adding that his firm was working on establishing a full-stack AI hub in the southern city of Vishakhapatnam, which he said would help bring jobs and cutting-edge AI to Indians.
Billionaire Mukesh Ambani pledged to invest $110bn over the next seven years to build India's AI ecosystem while Anthropic's CEO Dario Amodei said that his firm would like to work with India on "testing and evaluation of models for safety and security risks".
Gates's decision to not speak to the summit came after days of uncertainty over whether he would attend. He is currently in India and had visited the southern state of Andhra Pradesh on Monday, where he reportedly discussed initiatives for boosting health, agriculture, education and technology.
After media reports speculated that he would pull out of the summit, his foundation said on Tuesday that he would deliver the address as scheduled.
His withdrawal is a blow for the summit, which India has pitched as a flagship gathering to position the country as a global AI hub.
Delegates from more than 100 countries, including several heads of states, are attending the event, which has been marked by some controversies over mismanagement on the first day and an Indian university's claims to have developed a robot dog that turned out to be made in China.
The five-day summit features policy discussions, start-up showcases and closed-door meetings on AI governance, infrastructure and innovation.
The event has also seen investment pledges by companies, including Microsoft, to expand AI access and infrastructure in countries such as India.
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Source: BBC
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