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Agence France-Presse

Bill Gates has cancelled his speech that was scheduled for Thursday at a major AI summit in India, the Gates Foundation said, after the Microsoft co-founder was named in the Epstein files.
“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 foundation said in a statement.
“The Gates Foundation remains fully committed to our work in India to advance our shared health and development goals,” it said.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and tech CEOs spoke about the opportunities and threats posed by artificial intelligence at the AI Impact Summit in New Delhi on Thursday.
The Gates Foundation said the president of its Africa and India offices would speak instead.
“We must democratise AI. It must become a medium for inclusion and empowerment,” Modi said, speaking in Hindi.
His call was echoed by UN chief Antonio Guterres, who warned the gathering that AI cannot be left to “the whims of a few billionaires”.
Gates this month said he regrets “every minute” he spent with Jeffrey Epstein, as his former wife Melinda said he still had questions to answer over his relationship with the late convicted sexual offender.
The latest tranche of documents released by the US Justice Department contained emails between many prominent figures and Epstein – often revealing warm friendships, illicit financial dealings and private photos.
In a draft email among the documents, Epstein alleged Gates engaged in extramarital affairs.
Epstein wrote that his relationship with Gates ranged from “helping Bill to get drugs, in order to deal with consequences of sex with Russian girls, to facilitating his illicit trysts, with married women”.

The mere mention of someone’s name in the Epstein files does not in itself imply any wrongdoing by that person.
“Every minute I spent with him, I regret, and I apologise,” Gates, a billionaire philanthropist, told 9News Australia in an interview.
“That email was never sent. The email is false,” he said. “I don’t know what his thinking was there. Was he trying to attack me in some way?”
Gates’ spokesperson issued a similar denial after the fresh cache of millions of files related to the investigation into Epstein, who died by suicide in prison in 2019, was released.
“The only thing these documents demonstrate is Epstein’s frustration that he did not have an ongoing relationship with Gates and the lengths he would go to entrap and defame,” the spokesperson said.
Melinda French Gates told US National Public Radio that the document dump brought back “memories of some very, very painful times in my marriage”.
“Whatever questions remain there of what – I can’t even begin to know all of it – those questions are for those people and for even my ex-husband. They need to answer to those things, not me.”
The couple divorced in 2021.


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India

Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates. Photo: AFP

Bill Gates appears with a woman in an image from the Epstein estate released by the US House Oversight Committee Democrats last year. Photo: House Oversight Committee Democrats via Reuters

Malaysia’s Anwar brushes off Epstein speculation with queasy emoji post

Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said his name had merely been “dropped” into the email exchange from the Epstein files, which dated to 2012. Photo: AFP

A translated version of Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim’s social media post dismissing speculation about any links to US sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Image: X/anwaribrahim

A document that was included in the US Department of Justice release of the Jeffrey Epstein files is seen on Sunday. Photo: AP

Opposition supporters shout slogans in New Delhi on Sunday demanding the resignation of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi after his name surfaced in the Epstein files. Photo: Reuters

India AI summit aims to shift focus from model races to scaled reality

Delegates at the India AI Impact Summit in New Delhi on Tuesday. Photo: AP

Delegates watch an exhibition on the use of AI during the India AI Impact Summit in New Delhi on Monday. Photo: AP

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman says India has the ingredients to be a full-stack AI leader. Photo: Reuters

People arrive at the India AI Impact Summit, in New Delhi on Tuesday. The summit is is expected to host more than 250,000 visitors. Photo: Reuters

A visitor checks a Jio intelligence bot on display at the India AI Impact Summit in New Delhi on Tuesday. Photo: Reuters

The robot dog sold by a Chinese start-up appeared at a booth run by the private Galgotias University at this week’s AI Impact Summit in New Delhi. Photo:X/zoo_bear

Visitors stand at Galgotias University’s kiosk during the AI Impact Summit in New Delhi on Wednesday. Photo: Reuters

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Asia

South Asia

The Gates Foundation said the Microsoft co-founder wanted to ‘ensure the focus remains on the AI summit’s key priorities’


The Gates Foundation said the Microsoft co-founder wanted to ‘ensure the focus remains on the AI summit’s key priorities’.


Jeffrey Epstein

Bill Gates

Artificial intelligence

Bill Gates backs out of India AI Impact Summit speech amid Epstein storm

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}The Gates Foundation said the Microsoft co-founder wanted to ‘ensure the focus remains on the AI summit’s key priorities’

The Gates Foundation said the Microsoft co-founder wanted to ‘ensure the focus remains on the AI summit’s key priorities’