New Delhi: Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates is confirmed to appear at the India AI Impact Summit 2026, delivering his keynote as planned, a spokesperson for the Gates Foundation said on Tuesday. This statement comes in response to reports suggesting he might skip the New Delhi event.

“Bill Gates, Chair of the Gates Foundation, is attending the India AI Impact Summit. He will be delivering his keynote as scheduled,” the spokesperson clarified, rejecting reports of his potential absence from the conference.

Earlier, certain government sources had reported that Gates would not attend the summit. These sources suggested that the speculation stemmed from his name appearing in newly released documents connected to the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

The summit website on Tuesday did not show his name.

While Gates has not been accused of wrongdoing by any of Epstein's victims, records released by the US justice department include an allegation by Epstein that Bill Gates caught a sexually transmitted disease.

One of the Epstein documents alleged that Gates was involved in extramarital relationships, including claims that Epstein assisted him in obtaining drugs to cope with encounters with Russian women and in arranging secret affairs with married women.

Gates said he regrets "every minute" spent with Epstein. His ex-wife Melinda French Gates has said however that he has questions to answer after Epstein alleged in the documents that he arranged meetings with women for Gates.

AI Impact Summit 2026

The India AI Impact Summit is a five-day programme anchored in three foundational pillars, or "Sutras": People, Planet, and Progress. 

India is the first country from the Global South to host the Global AI Impact Summit, which brings together global leaders, policymakers, technology companies, innovators, and experts to showcase and deliberate on the transformative potential of AI across governance, innovation, and sustainable development.

The AI Impact Summit which kicked off on Monday in New Delhi will welcome world leaders from across 20 countries, including French President Emmanuel Macron, Brazilian President Lula da Silva, Sri Lankan President Anura Kumara Dissanayake and others.

UN Secretary General Antonio Gutteres will also attend the event.

From February 16 to 20, the Impact Summit, the first international AI summit hosted in the Global South, showcases New Delhi's ambition: to shape an AI future that is inclusive, responsible, and impactful. At the core is India's audacious vision for sovereign AI.

Late last week, Nvidia said its CEO Jensen Huang will not to travel to India to attend the Summit. Huang was one of the biggest attractions at the Summit.

While the company had not given any reason for the move, some had linked it to presence of Gates at the event

(with inputs from ANI and AFP)