Bill Gates skips AI Summit 2026: Ankur Vora, who heads the Africa and India offices at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, will step in for the organisation at the India AI Impact Summit this Thursday, February 19.
This comes after Bill Gates pulled out of giving the keynote, following controversy over his name showing up in the Jeffrey Epstein files.
The foundation explained that Gates won’t be speaking at the event in Delhi, saying, “After careful consideration, and to keep everyone focused on the AI Summit’s main goals, Mr Gates will not be delivering his keynote address.”
Who is Ankur Vora?
Vora grew up in India, where he studied both economics and engineering. According to his LinkedIn, he now lives in Seattle.
He holds a Bachelor’s in Computer Science and a Master’s in Economics from BITS Pilani in Rajasthan, and then went on to earn a PhD in Economics from the University of Chicago.
Vora taught economics at the University of Chicago from 1998 to 2003 and spent some time in 2001 at Goldman Sachs as an Associate in Fixed Income, Currencies, and Commodities (FICC).
Ankur Vora’s high-profile jobs
In 2003, he joined the Boston Consulting Group as a Principal and stayed there for six years. By 2009, he moved into the development sector, working as Director of Programmes at The Children’s Investment Fund Foundation in London. There, he managed investments in Africa and South Asia until 2013.
Vora joined the Gates Foundation in 2013 as Deputy Director of Strategy. Two years later, he stepped up as Director of Strategy, Innovation & Impact, where he led on strategy, measurement, evaluation, and special projects. In 2020, he became Chief Strategy Officer, advising the Chair and CEO on what to prioritize, where to allocate resources, and how to plan for the long haul.
In January 2026, Vora took on the role of President for the foundation’s Africa and India offices, overseeing work across six offices in both regions.
He also sits on the boards of GH Labs and the Gates Medical Research Institute.
Why did Bill Gates skip the AI Summit 2026
Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates missed the AI Impact Summit event in New Delhi, and on Wednesday, his Gates Foundation announced that he would nonetheless give his keynote address at the event despite the scrutiny of his association with child sex criminal Jeffrey Epstein as a public scrutiny of his relationship with Epstein.
Information Technology ministry official added that Gates had pulled out by himself, and the Indian government had not pressured it considering his relationship with child sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
A second official told that the move was not initiated by the government but there was an argument that the message of the summit should not be jeopardized by the fact that there might be protests against Gates who was in Mumbai a day before.
The US Department of Justice reports allege that Gates had several meetings with Epstein between 2011 and 2014, several years after Epstein had been convicted of soliciting a minor in 2008.
Gates has admitted that during his encounter with Epstein, he made an error, saying that it was a regrettable experience and called the dealings as stupid, and denied any ethical failures or involvement in the criminal activities of Epstein.
