Bill Gates Visits Amaravati as AI Summit Participation Remains Unclear

Bill Gates, chairman of the Gates Foundation, visited Andhra Pradesh’s Real Time Governance Society (RTGS) centre at the state secretariat in Amaravati on Monday.

Andhra Pradesh's Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu briefed him on the state’s technology-driven governance model spanning civic services, digital land records and public health.

The Amaravati stop was part of a broader India itinerary that also included the India AI Impact Summit 2026 in New Delhi, a government-hosted event focused on responsible AI development, global inclusion and the democratisation of AI resources. Gates had initially been listed as a “Global Visionary” alongside OpenAI’s Sam Altman and Google’s Sundar Pichai. However, his name was later quietly removed from the summit’s Global Visionaries list. No official explanation was issued, and it remained unclear whether he would attend any portion of the event.

The Visit To Amravati

The visit to Amaravati was not incidental. Gates and Naidu share a working relationship dating back to 1997, when Naidu, then chief minister of undivided Andhra Pradesh, pitched his technology vision to Gates and persuaded Microsoft to establish an office in Hyderabad. That engagement later evolved into a broader institutional partnership, with the Gates Foundation supporting public health and agriculture programmes in the state, including the Sanjeevani primary healthcare initiative in Chittoor district.

At the RTGS centre, Gates observed presentations on the state’s Data Lake platform, which integrates data across departments, as well as Aware 2.0, a real-time field monitoring system, and a WhatsApp-based citizen services interface. He described the state’s GST-linked tax collection performance as “amazing” and referred to Amaravati’s ongoing construction progress as “great work.”

Naidu also presented the Swarna Andhra 2047 development vision, which positions Amaravati as a quantum valley, Visakhapatnam as a data and AI city, Kakinada as a green hydrogen hub, and Tirupati as an electronics and space corridor.

The Sanjeevani project received particular attention, with officials demonstrating how patient vitals such as blood pressure and diabetes readings are digitally recorded to generate personalised guidance. Gates described what he saw at Kuppam as “nice” and said expanding affordable diagnostic access could significantly benefit lower-income communities.

Following the secretariat meetings, he visited a farm in Undavalli village to observe drone and AI applications in agriculture.

Naidu later reflected on the relationship in a post on X, recalling their first meeting in 1997 and describing how it had evolved into a broader collaboration focused on technology-led governance. IT Minister Nara Lokesh, who received Gates at Gannavaram Airport, said the state looked forward to continued engagement with the Foundation on scalable public welfare initiatives.