Bill Gates, Co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, says Africa should take the global lead in deploying artificial intelligence (AI) and digital public infrastructure (DPI) to address urgent challenges in healthcare, education, and agriculture.
Speaking on Monday at the African Union headquarters in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia during the Gates Foundation’s Inspiring Progress event, Gates announces a shift in the Foundation’s strategy, pledging that the majority of his wealth will be spent in Africa over the next two decades.
“My commitment is to be a partner through the Gates Foundation,” Gates says. “I recently made a commitment that my wealth will be given away over the next 20 years. And the majority of that funding will be spent on helping you address challenges here in Africa.”
“My commitment is to be a partner through the Gates Foundation,” Gates says. “I recently made a commitment that my wealth will be given away over the next 20 years. And the majority of that funding will be spent on helping you address challenges here in Africa.”
The Microsoft co-founder says the continent’s innovation potential—demonstrated by its leapfrogging of legacy banking and telecoms systems—positions it to lead in integrating emerging technologies such as AI in core sectors including health, education, and agriculture.
“If equity were served, [AI] should roll out here first,” Gates notes, citing greater need for medical, educational, and agricultural solutions.
Bill Gates on AI for maternal health and rural medicine
Gates highlights current applications of AI in African healthcare, such as mobile maternal diagnostic tools that use ultrasound imaging connected to smartphones.
“This device here now is an ultrasound. You plug this into your cell phone and running on that phone will be an AI algorithm so that early in a pregnancy, the software will tell you, is this going to be a difficult delivery?”
He says the technology, already being piloted in Rwanda, correctly identifies low-risk deliveries in over 90% of pregnancies, helping women avoid unnecessary hospital travel in remote regions.
“This device here now is an ultrasound. You plug this into your cell phone and running on that phone will be an AI algorithm so that early in a pregnancy, the software will tell you, is this going to be a difficult delivery?”
Data-driven disease control and local innovation
The Gates Foundation is backing digital tools that collect real-time data for disease mapping and response. Mozambique, he says, has significantly cut malaria deaths using diagnostics and mapping systems.
Gates credits the elimination of wild polio in Nigeria to national coordination led by Nigerian Minister of Health, Dr Muhammad Pate.
“Polio looked very difficult to get rid of in Nigeria. And it was only through great leadership of people like Dr Muhammad Pate that this was successful.”
AI-powered agriculture for smallholder farmers
The Foundation is also investing in AI-driven agriculture platforms aimed at boosting productivity for African smallholder farmers. These tools integrate weather forecasts, market prices, soil data, and improved seed and fertiliser options.
With access to weather forecasts, market pricing, soil data, and improved seeds and fertilisers, Gates says that farmers can increase productivity dramatically.
He says farmers across Africa can benefit from insights tailored to their local environment. “Giving those farmers all the information and tools they need is a key goal for us,” Gates says.
He notes that technologies like improved chicken breeds have already benefited over 140 million rural households, with partners such as Ethiopia’s Mid Rock Investment Group.
“We want to find the best AI thinkers, back them… so African scientists are not waiting 10 or 20 years before it gets rolled out.”
Advancing digital identity and payment systems
He also points to DPI—including digital identity and mobile financial platforms—as critical enablers of service delivery and governance. He says that half of African countries are implementing digital ID and mobile financial transactions systems.
“That’s having each government have an identity scheme that works well, being able to transact and save very easily from your mobile phone.”
“So far, we have half the countries in Africa implementing those systems,” he says. “That’s having each government have an identity scheme that works well, being able to transact and save very easily from your mobile phone.”
He adds that these systems will also ease cross-border trade across the African continent. “Even in terms of integrating the African economies, these digital payments make it easy to work across borders.”
Supporting African AI talent and technology ecosystem
Gates says the Foundation will back African AI talent and researchers to ensure local innovation is not delayed by decades, as was the case with earlier technologies.
“We want to find the best AI thinkers, back them… so African scientists are not waiting 10 or 20 years before it gets rolled out.”
He believes that combining scientific talent with scalable public infrastructure will allow African countries to leap ahead in sectors where capacity is still thin.
“You have a chance, as you build your next generation healthcare system, to think about how AI is built into that,” he says.
Warning of rising child mortality, urges innovation focus
He expresses concern over declining donor aid and rising debt in African countries, which he says is already disrupting clinical trials and drug access. He warns that for the first time in 25 years, child mortality may rise.
“Now, we should all feel a sense of anger about that,” he says. “But we should also make sure that we’re doing the best we can—to use innovation, to use prioritisation, to make sure that we get back to reducing deaths as soon as possible.”
Long-term commitment to African development
Reflecting on Microsoft’s 50th anniversary and the Gates Foundation’s 25th, Gates says he will dedicate the remainder of his life to advancing Africa’s development.
“And so that’s how I intend to focus all of my work for the rest of my life—because there’s nothing more important.”
He reflects on the 25-year history of the Foundation and Microsoft’s legacy. He says he will focus the rest of his life on expanding access to health, education, and technology in Africa.
“This year is the 50th anniversary of Microsoft, the company I founded, which provides the fortune that I’m now giving away. It’s the 25th year of the Gates Foundation, and also later this year, I’ll celebrate my 70th birthday”
“And by unleashing the human potential,” he adds, “through health, through education, every country in Africa should be on a path to prosperity. And that path is an exciting thing to be part of creating that. And so that’s how I intend to focus all of my work for the rest of my life because there’s nothing more important.”
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