The Gates Foundation has revealed plans to spend at least $1 billion in the next two years. This money will expand access to artificial intelligence and AI-related solutions. The focus is on communities that have limited access to technology.
The foundation shared this news in a press release on Tuesday. This announcement came with the launch of its 10th annual Goalkeepers Report.
The report is titled: Make This Matter: AI, Equity, and the Choice We Can’t Delay. It talks about urgent actions needed to ensure that AI helps close the gap between the rich and the poor instead of making it wider.
The foundation mentioned, “The report includes examples of foundation-supported partners that are already changing lives using AI in clinics and classrooms and on small farms.”
Funding breakdown
The foundation said that 40 percent of the funding will go to education. This includes AI tutoring to personalize student learning and teaching tools in the US and other countries.
Another 40 percent will support healthcare. This includes AI tools for diagnosing health issues and helping frontline health workers make clinical decisions. It will also support maternal and newborn care, as well as the discovery of new drugs and vaccines.
Agriculture will get 10 percent of the funding. This will help provide AI-generated advice for smallholder farmers based on their soil, weather, and crop conditions.
The remaining 10 percent will back the digital foundation needed for fair AI access. This includes datasets in languages that current AI tools do not understand.
The foundation stressed that fair access to AI needs intentional efforts from governments, tech companies, charities, and communities.
Language issues
The report also points out the lack of representation of many languages in the data used for AI systems.
According to the foundation, over 90 percent of the data used to train early large language models came from English sources. This has left many communities that could benefit from AI poorly represented in the data on which the tools are built.
The foundation suggested that AI tools should work in the languages people actually speak. They also encouraged using data and expertise from the communities where these tools will be used.
It was noted that the report calls for countries and communities to have a bigger role in how data for AI is managed and protected. It said doctors, farmers, teachers, and developers need chances to learn how to evaluate AI tools and adapt them to their local needs.
The foundation added that affordable access to AI technology would need action from tech companies, along with investments from governments and charity organizations.
Bill Gates, chair of the Gates Foundation, said, “We can harness AI for good. But it won’t happen by accident.” He urged government leaders and tech companies to measure success by what AI can do for those who stand to gain the most, not just for the most profitable users.
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