Bill Gates abruptly backed out of giving the keynote address at a major AI summit in India on Thursday, in the wake of recently released emails shedding light on his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein.
The six-day event in New Delhi was billed as the first forum of its kind in the global south and an opportunity for the host country to flex its AI muscles on the world stage. But attendees say it has been mired by traffic jams, awkward on-stage moments — including a viral mishap involving AI bigwigs Sam Altman and Dario Amodei — and organizational chaos.
According to the Gates Foundation, the billionaire co-founder of Microsoft did not deliver his keynote speech “to ensure the focus remained on the AI Summit’s key priorities” – even though the organization had insisted he was on track to attend the event just days ago.
Gates has faced public blowback since the US Justice Department released the latest batch of Epstein emails earlier this month — including a draft message that the late sex offender wrote suggesting that he facilitated sexual encounters for Gates.
Gates has said he regrets knowing Epstein and denied any wrongdoing in relation to the financier creep.
Gates’ cancellation came a few days after Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang pulled out of the AI Impact Summit. A Nvidia spokesperson blamed “unforeseen circumstances” for the move, according to Reuters.
Among luminaries who actually showed up, Altman, chief executive of OpenAI, and Anthropic’s Amodei had an awkward moment when they conspicuously refrained from holding hands for an onstage photo op on Thursday.
Standing in a line-up of tech and political leaders, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi jubilantly grasped the hands of Altman and Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai and lifted them into the air.
As others onstage quickly followed suit, Altman refrained from grasping the hand of the man to his left, Amodei. The pair instead held up fists in the air.
“When you’re forced to do a group project with your opp,” Justine Moore, an investing partner at Andreessen Horowitz, said in a post on X poking fun at the photo.
Competition has been heating up between OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Anthropic’s Claude, especially after the latter ran two Super Bowl ads mocking ChatGPT for allowing ads on its chatbot.
“I guess it’s on brand for Anthropic doublespeak to use a deceptive ad to critique theoretical deceptive ads that aren’t real, but a Super Bowl ad is not where I would expect it,” Altman said after the commercials aired.
The symbolic show of unity was Modi’s attempt to celebrate the launch of the New Delhi Frontier AI Commitments – a group of voluntary guidelines meant to ensure the safe, responsible development of AI models.
During his speech, the politician noted the importance of prioritizing children’s safety on AI platforms.
The summit raked in more than $200 billion for AI infrastructure for India – though attendees complained about organizational disorder and accused the government of a lack of planning.
Exhibition halls at the summit were unexpectedly closed on Thursday – angering companies who had taken the time to set up their own booths.
An Indian university was asked to leave the event after it was discovered that a robotic dog presented by a university staffer was not their own creation – but rather a commercially available robot made in China.
Attendees also complained of intense traffic jams as police officers repeatedly shut roads for VIP guests – forcing some to walk for miles in central Delhi, with no access to taxis or shuttle services.
With Post wires
