The Gates Foundation has pledged $1 billion over the next two years to expand access to artificial intelligence and support AI-focused initiatives in health, education, agriculture and underserved languages. The commitment comes as Microsoft co-founder and philanthropist Bill Gates warns that the rapid development of AI could deepen existing inequalities if its benefits are not made accessible to communities around the world.
Gates made the appeal as the foundation released its annual Goalkeepers report, which tracks progress toward the United Nations’ development goals for improving quality of life by 2030. The foundation’s latest AI commitment is aimed at ensuring that the technology can be used to address challenges in communities that have historically had less access to advanced digital tools and resources.
A significant part of the funding will focus on making AI more useful across different languages and local contexts. The foundation plans to commit around $100 million toward building datasets in languages spoken by underserved communities. Gates Foundation CEO Mark Suzman said AI needs to perform effectively in local languages rather than being concentrated primarily around English and, to some extent, Mandarin.
The foundation is also working with major technology companies on AI-related projects. Google.org and Microsoft’s AI for Good Lab have helped launch an open funding initiative focused on strengthening the frameworks needed to support thousands of underrepresented languages across Africa.
Healthcare is another major area of focus. OpenAI has committed $50 million alongside the Gates Foundation to train health workers in Rwandan clinics as part of a pilot programme that is expected to expand to other African countries. The foundation is also working with Anthropic on initiatives related to vaccine development and improving AI datasets covering local crops.
The planned funding also includes around $400 million for education, with projects aimed at developing tools that can help teachers adapt lesson plans based on concepts students find difficult to understand. Another $400 million is planned for healthcare, including tools that could assist clinicians by checking reports for potentially overlooked symptoms. Around $100 million is earmarked for agriculture, including technology that can provide farmers with real-time guidance on weather patterns, pest control and fertiliser use.
While the foundation is focusing on expanding AI’s potential benefits, Gates has also raised concerns about the risks associated with the technology. In recent comments, he described AI as having the potential to become either a major force for equality or a significant source of injustice. His warning reflects concerns that access to advanced AI could become concentrated among wealthier countries, companies and communities while others are left behind.
Gates has previously warned that the transition to an AI-driven economy could also create significant disruption to employment and society. He has argued that the speed of AI development differs from earlier technological changes because the current transition is happening rapidly, giving governments and institutions less time to prepare for its effects.
The foundation’s latest commitment therefore combines two priorities: expanding access to AI and ensuring that the technology addresses real-world needs in communities that could otherwise be excluded from its benefits. Rather than focusing only on the development of increasingly advanced AI systems, the initiative places emphasis on practical applications in areas such as healthcare, education, agriculture and local-language technology.
The announcement comes amid growing international debate about how quickly AI should develop and how governments, technology companies and other institutions should respond to its economic and social consequences. For the Gates Foundation, the focus is on ensuring that AI contributes to improvements in health, education and economic opportunity while reducing the risk that the technology becomes another driver of global inequality.
