Tech chiefs address India AI summit as Gates cancels

Weather - Sydney 10°C

Tech chiefs address India AI summit as Gates cancels

ECONOMY 19.02.2026

Tech chiefs address India AI summit as Gates cancels / Photo: © AFP

Indian leader Narendra Modi and tech chiefs including OpenAI's Sam Altman will speak Thursday on artificial intelligence's opportunities and threats at a summit in New Delhi, but Microsoft founder Bill Gates cancelled just hours before his speech.

Change text size:

Gates, facing questions over his ties to late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, withdrew just hours before his speech to "ensure the focus remains on the AI Summit's key priorities", the Gates Foundation said.

The AI Impact Summit is the fourth annual international gathering focused on the rapidly advancing field, following previous summits in Paris, Seoul and Britain's wartime code-breaking hub Bletchley.

Frenzied demand for generative AI has turbocharged profits for many companies, while fuelling anxiety about the risks to society and the planet.

Modi will speak on stage with French President Emmanuel Macron Thursday at the huge event that has drawn tens of thousands of attendees including dozens of world leaders and ministers.

Google DeepMind head Demis Hassabis, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres and Meta's Alexandr Wang also on the bill.

Another Gates Foundation official will take the place of Gates, who said this month he regrets "every minute" he spent with Epstein.

The mere mention of someone's name in the Epstein files does not in itself imply any wrongdoing by that person.

- New investments -

As the first global AI meeting held in a developing country, the five-day summit, which wraps up Friday, has also been a chance for India to boost its position in the booming sector.

The nation expects more than $200 billion in investments over the next two years, and US tech titans have unveiled new deals, investments and infrastructure for the South Asian country this week.

On Thursday, ChatGPT maker OpenAI and Indian IT giant Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) announced a plan to build hyperscale AI data centre capacity in the South Asian country.

The previous day Google said it planned to build subsea cables as part of an existing $15 billion AI infrastructure investment.

"Since my childhood growing up in Chennai, India has undergone an incredible transformation," Google CEO Sundar Pichai said.

"India is going to have an extraordinary trajectory with AI and we want to be a partner," he added.

US chip behemoth Nvidia -- the world's most valuable company -- also said it was teaming up with Indian cloud computing providers to provide advanced processors for data centres that can train and run AI systems.

AI data centres are under construction worldwide on a massive scale, as companies race to develop super-intelligent systems.

The huge amounts of electricity needed to power them and water to cool hot servers has sparked alarm at a time when countries have pledged to decarbonise their grids to try and slow climate change.

- Gridlock -

Last year India leapt to third place in an annual global ranking of AI competitiveness calculated by Stanford researchers, although experts say it has a long way to go before it can rival the United States and China.

Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva is in town to attend the AI summit and hold talks with Modi, including on rare earths.

Leaders are expected to deliver a statement at the end of the week about how they plan to handle AI technology.

One fear is disruption to the job market, especially in India where millions of people are employed in call centres and tech support services.

"We are creating human imitators. And so of course, the natural application for that type of system is replacing humans," leading computer science researcher Stuart Russell told AFP.

Some say the broad focus of the event and vague promises made at previous global AI summits mean that concrete commitments are unlikely.

Many researchers and AI safety campaigners believe stronger action is needed to combat issues ranging from sexualised deepfakes to AI-enabled online scams and intrusive surveillance.

Siddharth Soni, the 23-year-old founder of an Indian AI-designed jewellery startup, said he could see both sides.

"We're losing artisans. We're losing the value of art, using AI, actually. That is one of the sad parts," he told AFP.

Lewis--TNT

Featured

Carney touts Canada 'pivot' away from US as tariffs rise

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney on Tuesday said reducing economic ties with the United States would come at a cost but the long-term benefits were clear, as retaliatory tariffs on US products took effect.

The "Everlasting Battery" Inside Your Joints:UConn Professor's Self-Powered Healing Material just Got Acquired

A material that turns your own movement into medicine has just landed a corporate home. PetVivo Holdings (OTCQX: PETV), a veterinary biotech and biomedical device company focused on treating osteoarthritis in dogs and horses, has acquired PiezoBioMembrane (PBM) — a startup built around a biodegradable implant that generates electricity from the everyday force of a joint in motion, and uses that charge to help regrow cartilage from the inside out. The material is the invention of Thanh Nguyen, a professor of mechanical engineering in UConn's College of Engineering, who founded PBM in 2021 to advance new implementation methods for his work with piezoelectric materials — substances that convert mechanical force into electrical energy. These materials are typically ceramics: hard, brittle, and poorly suited for medical use. But Nguyen's lab developed new forms that are so , flexible, and biodegradable, breaking down naturally within the body over time. wound healing, The materials have already shown strong potential across a range of medical applications, including tissue regeneration, implanted force sensors, and targeted drug delivery in tumor treatment. How It Works biodegradable ultrasound for In the case of arthritis, Nguyen explains, the piezoelectric materials function as an off-the-shelf product that can be implanted or injected directly into the ailing joint — with no drugs, chemicals, or cells required. The everyday force exerted on the joint generates a small electrical charge, which helps regrow healthy cartilage, mimicking the body's natural use of electricity to regenerate tissue. "The body can be electrically stimulated to regrow," Nguyen says. PBM's materials "act like a battery — an everlasting battery that works whenever there is a force applied, and vanishes safely inside the body over time." PetVivo's Vision for the Acquisition PetVivo Holdings CEO John Lai expressed enthusiasm for the merger's potential to improve the lives of companion animals globally. "PBM has developed a compelling functional biomaterials platform with the potential to support the development of multiple medical device and therapeutic product lines across both human and animal health markets," Lai said in a press release. "By combining PBM's scientific innovation with PetVivo's product development capabilities, commercialization experience, regulatory expertise, and public company infrastructure, we believe we can accelerate theadvancement of technologies that may serve as the foundation for numerous future products and strategic opportunities." For Nguyen, the deal is a chance to scale technology that could eventually benefit both animals and people. "PetVivo is an animal health company, but they do have a big passion: pushing the technology towards clinical trials for human use," Nguyen says. "That aligned perfectly with my passion for developing technology that has an impact on human life. That is why I am excited about this merger, which facilitates my passion." A Track Record of Innovation Nguyen's research sits at the intersection of medicine, micro/nanotechnology, and biomaterials. His inventions have earned him publications in prominent scientific journals and media coverage from outlets including NPR. Nguyen founded PBM during the COVID-19 pandemic, a er realizing the material he had developed could be used to create an especially effective, biodegradable face mask — one where the mechanical force of breathing generated an electrical charge that provided an extra layer of protection against viruses. PBM is not Nguyen's only venture in the acquisition pipeline. His other startup, Single-Time Microneedles (STM), is also currently undergoing an acquisition process. STM has pioneered stable, efficient vaccine delivery technology in the form of an adhesive patch. shelfNguyen's focus on biodegradable materials has translated into a remarkably diverse range of medical applications. He has received five R01 grants from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) supporting research in cartilage regeneration, bone regeneration, HIV antibody delivery systems, and biodegradable ultrasound technology to boost the effectiveness of chemotherapy for brain cancer. "Whatever we are working on, we want to show that it works very well in vitro and in vivo," Nguyen says. "Then, when we are at the point of commercialization, we set up a startup or license the technology — or maybe team up with an industry partner." Thanh Nguyen is a professor of mechanical engineering in UConn's College of Engineering. (Courtesy of Thanh Nguyen

Octrado introduces its proprietary trading offering: "Your Skill. Our Capital"

Infrastructure, transparent rules and clear legal boundaries positioned as the core of the funded-account model

Could gas prices return to 2022 highs on US-Iran war?

European gas prices have more than doubled owing to the US-Iran war, just as Europe needs to replenish its reserves ahead of winter.

Change text size:

The National Times - Tech chiefs address India AI summit as Gates cancels