Gates Pledges $1B, Warns AI Deepens Inequality

Bill Gates is warning that no government on earth is prepared for what artificial intelligence will do to society, and his foundation is putting $1 billion behind an effort to keep the world's poorest people from being locked out of the technology.

Gates told Reuters in an interview published Tuesday that governments worldwide are "way behind" on AI and laid out the risks he sees ahead.

On the same day, the Gates Foundation released a report warning that AI could widen the gap between rich and poor unless it is deliberately built to serve people in the world's poorest countries — and pledged $1 billion to expand access.

The Warning

The foundation's report argues that billions of people risk being left behind by AI because the technology does not understand them — it is not built around their languages, their circumstances or their needs.

Gates' message to technology companies and world leaders, according to The Independent, is that they must act now if AI is going to attack social inequities rather than deepen them.