New York [US], September 23: Bill Gates told his foundation's Goalkeepers gathering that "increased generosity" and "the smart use of AI" together could accelerate the fight against inequality, urging the world's richest countries to expand international aid and apply artificial intelligence toward what he considers "lifesaving innovations." "We failed to build in the right human values and ways of keeping our moral code controlling what these AIs do," Gates, the foundation's chair, said during a Monday conversation with political commentator Van Jones at Jazz at Lincoln Center in New York.
The Gates Foundation's annual event, usually hosted the week of the United Nations' high-level meetings, opened with a reminder: 26 of the world's 34 wealthiest nations decreased development aid to poorer countries last year. Meanwhile, the U.N. has warned that progress on its sustainable development goalslofty targets to reduce poverty, improve health and protect the environment by 2030 - is "slow and uneven." The contraction comes at a time when Gates suggested "we have some of the best innovations ever to improve people's lives." His foundation spent much of its two-hour event elevating educators, farmers and health workers who are using AI to identify students' learning gaps, combat pest infestations and better recall patients' medical records.
The Gates Foundation also touted its new coalition of Anthropic, Google, OpenAI Foundation and dozens of other organizations working to make AI more accessible in underrepresented languages. The partners - 60 in total, according to Monday's announcement - include frontier AI labs, corporations, philanthropies and others already working to expand the number of languages available in AI tools that the Gates Foundation believes could combat global inequality.It's work that must continue "full speed ahead," according to Gates Foundation CEO Mark Suzman, even as some of the largest AI companies urge their industry to slow down development of advanced models. Governments must regulate the impacts on cybersecurity or children's development, he said, while they extend AI's humanitarian applications to poor communities currently "shut out" from the technology.
Source: Qatar Tribune
