Recently, the Gates Foundation announced that it will invest at least $1 billion over the next two years to promote AI and AI-based solutions to benefit people around the world more widely and fairly. On the same day, the foundation released its tenth annual "Goalkeepers Report" - "Creating Change - AI, Equity, and Urgent Choices," calling on all parties to seize the window of opportunity to avoid AI widening the gap between the rich and the poor.

AI, artificial intelligence

The report points out that to truly make AI accessible, three key issues need to be addressed: support for all languages. Currently, more than 90% of the training data for early large language models comes from English sources, leaving many people underrepresented in the AI knowledge system; develop tools based on local data and scenarios, with local communities deciding how data is stored, shared, and governed; invest in talent and accessibility, enabling doctors, farmers, teachers, and developers not only to use AI but also to assess and adjust AI tools, while reducing the cost of technology use.

This $1 billion in funding will mainly be directed towards four areas, with about 40% allocated to education, developing AI tutoring tools and educational applications; about 40% to health, supporting diagnosis, clinical decision-making, maternal and newborn health, as well as new drug and vaccine development; about 10% to agriculture, providing small farmers with AI advice tailored to soil, weather, and crop conditions; and another 10% to digital infrastructure, including building datasets for languages that AI currently does not understand well.

The Gates Foundation stated that AI will not automatically benefit everyone equally. In the future, the success of AI should not only be measured by how well it serves the users with the highest commercial value, but also by whether it can provide practical help to those who need technology the most.