Gates Foundation Warns AI Could Deepen Inequality, Pledges $1 Billion for Access

Bill Gates has urged technology companies and world leaders to act swiftly to ensure artificial intelligence reduces social inequities instead of worsening them, as his foundation committed $1 billion to broaden access to the technology.

The appeal came in the Gates Foundation's annual Goalkeepers report, which tracks progress toward the United Nations' development goals for improving quality of life by 2030. The funding announced Tuesday will be spread over two years and directed at AI efforts to train models on local languages, improve health outcomes, upgrade educational tools and inform small farmers' practices worldwide.

Gates, the Microsoft co-founder, wrote in a blog post last month that AI will either be "the greatest equalizer" or the "worst source of injustice." He acknowledged the technology could empower fraud, disinformation, surveillance, cyberattacks and bioterrorism.

The foundation, one of the world's largest global health funders, is concentrating less on safeguards and more on widening access to what Gates considers the technology's benefits. AI is among several focus areas in this year's record budget, and Gates has said "all of our work" will take full advantage of it.

Foundation CEO Mark Suzman described AI as "a potentially transformative tool" for a world "in a little bit of crisis." He said the technology must perform well in all local languages, not just English and, to some extent, Mandarin, for it to accelerate progress. About $100 million will help build data sets in languages spoken by underserved communities.

Major AI companies are contributing. Google.org and Microsoft's AI for Good Lab helped launch an open funding call for projects strengthening frameworks for thousands of underrepresented African languages. OpenAI committed $50 million alongside the foundation to train health workers in Rwandan clinics, in a pilot Suzman said will soon expand to other African countries. Anthropic is working with the foundation on vaccine development and improving its chatbot's data on local crops.

The announcement includes roughly $400 million for education, such as a tool helping teachers rework lesson plans around concepts their classes struggle with; about $400 million for healthcare, including a tool that double-checks clinicians' reports for overlooked symptoms; and some $100 million for agriculture, such as an app offering farmers real-time advice on weather, pest control and fertilizer use.

Suzman acknowledged the totals are a "tiny proportion" of the billions tech giants spend on commercial products. He said the foundation is holding further talks with major AI companies about contributing technical resources and where their leaders should invest the fortunes they are expected to make.

Despite international aid cuts by the United States, Suzman said he would keep pressing Congress and President Donald Trump's administration to lead on foreign assistance. "We haven't given up on the U.S.," he said, adding that the period has been challenging but that a case can still be made.

The report arrives as executives at leading AI companies urge the industry to slow its rapid development, and after an ex-Anthropic researcher resigned over concerns that developers are not acting responsibly. Gates has noted a "potential bias": he retains financial ties to the technology industry, where he built a fortune estimated at more than $100 billion, and works alongside Microsoft and other AI companies as the foundation's chair. He committed last year to donating 99% of his remaining wealth to the foundation and says his views are not profit-motivated.

The Goalkeepers report comes ahead of the United Nations General Assembly's high-level meetings next week in New York. Secretary-General António Guterres, whose term ends this year, has sought to include developing nations in AI governance discussions and has said the technology "cannot be governed by a handful of countries or companies." Richard Gowan of the International Crisis Group noted that U.N. processes "move considerably less rapidly than AI does," and said it is unclear whether Guterres' successor will maintain the focus.