The Gates Foundation’s new AI initiative: attempting to leapfrog global health inequalities?
By Jonathan Shaffer, Arsenii Alenichev, and Marlyn C. Faure,
BMJ Global Health
| 11. 03. 2023
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has long been criticised for championing the trend of socially reductive, ‘magic bullet’ technical ‘solutions’ to the complex, historically shaped, politically conflicted problems at root of global health inequities.1–5 Their August 9th announcement of the launch of a new US$5 million, 48 project funding push6 to launch new ‘artificial intelligence (AI) large language models (LLM) in low-income and middle-income countries to improve the livelihood and well-being of communities globally’ is set to continue this hegemonic global health trend. And, as much as ‘magic bullets’ can solve issues, they, as bullets, are also capable of wounding and causing harm.
There are at least three reasons to believe that the unfettered imposition of these tools into already fragile and fragmented healthcare delivery systems risks doing far more harm than good.
We are not Luddites. New tools of technology, biomedicine, scientific knowledge and population care have often made life better and safer for those with access and control over their use.7 LLMs and AI, however, will not be so equity-advancing despite the Gates Foundation’s overheated...
Related Articles
GeneWatch UK has prepared a briefing on the genetic modification of nature for the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Congress in October 2025
The upcoming Congress claims to be “where the world comes together to set priorities and drive conservation and sustainable development action.” A major concern for those on the outside is that the Congress may advance plans to develop and encourage the use of synthetic biology in nature conservation. This could at first glance sound like...
By Aaron Ginn, The Washington Post | 09.12.2025
Earlier this year, I had dinner in D.C. with Jensen Huang, the president and chief executive of Nvidia. At one point, he said something that struck me: “Why is everyone here so negative?”
He wasn’t referring to the economy...
By Roni Caryn Rabin, The New York Times | 08.25.2025
Scientists have dreamed for centuries about using animal organs to treat ailing humans. In recent years, those efforts have begun to bear fruit: Researchers have begun transplanting the hearts and kidneys of genetically modified pigs into patients, with varying degrees...
The Center for Genetics and Society is delighted to recommend the current edition of GMWatch Review – Number 589. UK-based GMWatch, a long-standing ally, was founded in 1998 by Jonathan Matthews as an independent organization seeking to counter the enormous corporate political power and propaganda of the GMO industry and its supporters. Matthews and Claire Robinson are its directors and managing editors.
CGS works to ensure that social justice, equity, human rights, and democratic governance are front...