Gates Foundation pledges US$1 billion to expand equitable access to AI

The Gates Foundation announced on September 14, 2026, in Seattle that it will spend at least US$1 billion over the next two years to expand access to artificial intelligence and AI-enabled solutions, opportunities, and knowledge for people who have long been left out, according to a press release. The commitment coincides with the launch of the foundation’s 10th annual Goalkeepers Report, which examines the urgent actions needed to ensure that AI narrows gaps between the richest and poorest rather than widening them. The 2026 edition, titled Make This Matter: AI, Equity, and the Choice We Can’t Delay, argues that AI’s trajectory is not fixed. It highlights foundation-supported partners already using AI in clinics, classrooms, and on small farms. The initiative signals an intentional push to shape how AI benefits reach underserved communities.

The Gates Foundation was established in part to address a market failure in which those with the greatest needs often have the least power to shape innovation and investment. Much of its work has focused on closing that gap across global health, development, and education. The foundation is based in Seattle and led by CEO Mark Suzman under the direction of Bill Gates and its governing board. The Goalkeepers campaign was created to accelerate progress toward the Sustainable Development Goals. Through its annual report, the foundation shares stories and data intended to inspire leaders who drive action on the Global Goals.

The 2026 report identifies three priority areas for action: making AI tools work in every language people speak, building AI for the contexts in which people will use them, and investing in people and access so communities can shape how AI works for them. More than 90% of the data used to train early large language models came from English-language sources, leaving many communities poorly represented. Effective tools also require data and expertise from the places and populations they are meant to serve. Doctors, farmers, teachers, and developers need opportunities to evaluate and adapt AI tools. They also need affordable access to the technology.

The US$1 billion commitment will be distributed roughly as follows: 40% to education, including AI tutoring and teaching tools for U.S. classrooms and abroad; 40% to health care, from diagnostics and clinical decision-making support to maternal and newborn care and drug and vaccine discovery; 10% to agriculture, including advice tailored to smallholder farmers’ soil, weather, and crop conditions; and 10% to build the digital foundation on which equitable AI depends. “The Gates Foundation was created in part to address a basic market failure: the people with the greatest needs often have the least power to shape where innovation and investment go,” writes Bill Gates, chair of the Gates Foundation, in the report. He adds that AI presents the same challenge at much greater speed. Left to the market alone, the most capable tools will be built first for those most able to pay. The foundation is calling on others to invest their resources, expertise, and voices.

The commitment is intended to scale up partners already working to close AI access gaps and ensure that tools reflect the knowledge and priorities of the people who need them most. “We can harness AI for good. But it won’t happen by accident,” Gates writes, urging deliberate commitments from government leaders and technology companies. Success, he argues, should be measured not only by what AI does for the most profitable users but by what it does for those who stand the most to gain. The full 2026 Goalkeepers Report is available on the foundation’s website. The announcement underscores the foundation’s push to make AI more useful, accessible, and affordable for underserved populations.