Closing Date: 19 September 2025
Call for Applications: Gates Foundation AI Fellowship
Applications for the first cohort of Gates Foundation AI Fellowship—a 12-month, full-time fellowship that embeds emerging AI talent into our global health, development, and education teams to prototype scalable, ethical AI solutions—are open.
AI holds extraordinary potential to transform health and development outcomes. Fellows will co-design high-impact projects and contribute to inclusive innovation across the foundation.
The Foundation
Gates Foundation is the largest nonprofit fighting poverty, disease, and inequity around the world. Founded on a simple premise: people everywhere, regardless of identity or circumstances, should have the chance to live healthy, productive lives.Gates Foundation believes its employees should reflect the rich diversity of the global populations they aim to serve.
Your Role
The AI Fellows Program at the Gates Foundation is designed to accelerate the responsible and impactful use of AI in global health, development, and education. Gates Foundation AI Fellowship goal is to attract top-tier, mission-aligned AI talent to drive innovation in these areas. As a Gates AI Fellow, you will join a prestigious cohort applying AI for public good and gain career-defining experience, access to Gates’ powerful network, and exposure to senior leadership.
This role offers the unique opportunity to collaborate across multiple divisions within the Foundation—including Global Health (GH), Gender Equality (GE), Global Development (GD), and Global Growth & Opportunity (GGO)—all of which are leveraging AI to accelerate progress toward their strategic goals and objectives.
Over the course of 12 months, each Gates AI Fellow will be assigned to high-priority projects, embedded within Strategic Initiatives or relevant Programmatic Strategy Teams (PSTs).
Sample project areas will include:
- Developing agent-based data tools and dashboards (e.g., periodic AI-generated insights).
- Building AI-powered prediction models for simple diagnostics.
- Designing and running lightweight A/B tests to validate concepts quickly.
- Building chatbots and interactive prototypes for pre-field assessment.
- Pressure-testing or adapting tools developed by Foundation partners and grantees for usability and adoption.
- Embedding AI agents in flagship Foundation databases or workflows.
What You’ll Do
Problem Identification & Scoping
- Identify, frame, and prioritize real-world challenges in collaboration with program teams, ensuring solutions are grounded in user needs and local realities.
Prototyping & Rapid Experimentation
- Prototype rapidly with modern LLM and AI tools to test feasibility, generate insights, and create lightweight demos.
- Document learnings from prototypes and translate them into actionable recommendations for scale or next steps.
Design and Deliver AI Solutions
- Design and implement AI/ML models to address challenges in global health, development, agriculture, diagnostics, or education.
- Conduct rigorous model evaluation and validation, ensuring accuracy, fairness, and real-world applicability.
- Prepare, curate, and manage datasets, ensuring data integrity, security, and ethical use.
- Develop high-quality, reliable software, applying strong engineering practices such as clean code, version control, and robust testing.
- Leverage large language models (LLMs), including deployment, fine-tuning, and adaptation to specific use cases.
Teaching & Capacity Building
- Develop and deliver workshops, guides, and playbooks to enable Foundation staff and partners to use LLM tools effectively in their own work.
- Mentor program teams and local partners in applying AI responsibly, with a focus on usability and adoption in LMIC contexts.
Collaborate Across Teams and Partners
- Apply interdisciplinary problem-solving skills to translate AI research into practical solutions across multiple domains.
- Communicate technical concepts effectively to both technical and non-technical stakeholders, enabling shared understanding and informed decision-making.
- Collaborate with cross-functional teams across disciplines and geographies to co-design and deliver impactful solutions.
- Facilitate workshops and training sessions to demystify AI tools, enabling teams to directly apply solutions to their workflows.
Advance Responsible and Ethical AI
- Embed equity, bias mitigation, and data privacy in all technical approaches.
- Ensure prototypes are designed with explainability in mind, making them accessible to non-technical stakeholders.
- Align AI solutions with the Foundation’s mission and global health and development goals.
- Share thought leadership by integrating prior academic, research, or professional experiences to advance the responsible and impactful use of AI.
Your Experience
The Foundation is looking for Gates AI fellows who represent a balance of technical competence and alignment with Foundation values.
- Education: Candidates must hold a Bachelor’s or Master’s degree (in Computer Science, Data Science, Engineering, Applied Math or relevant field).
- AI Technology: Proficiency in ML/AI modeling, software engineering, model evaluation, LLM deployment, and data wrangling, with evidence of applied coursework, research, internships, or early professional experience.
- AI Applications: Demonstrated interest in applying AI to fields such as health systems, agriculture, diagnostics, or education, with enthusiasm and literacy to use modern AI tools safely and pragmatically (direct AI research experience not required).
- Collaborative Mindset: Strong teamwork and adaptability, with experience working cross-functionally in complex environments.
- Communication Skills: Demonstrated ability to clearly articulate technical concepts and recommendations to both technical and non-technical audiences.
- Mission-Driven Ethos: Deep motivation to apply AI responsibly for public good, with alignment to equitable development and global health impact.
- Builder and Teacher Mindset : Hands-on experience building prototypes with LLMs (e.g., using open-source tools or API-based platforms) and a willingness to share learnings openly. Ability to teach and enable others, not just deliver technical outputs.
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Apply AI where it matters most: Work on problems core to the Foundation’s mission—health, development, and education so more people can live healthy, productive lives.
Drive outsized results in LMICs: Aim solutions at countries and communities the Foundation prioritizes, where innovation can move the needle fastest.
Advance digital public goods: Contribute to safe, inclusive digital public infrastructure and health innovation efforts where AI can accelerate access and equity. Partner with Program Strategy Teams to deliver tangible prototypes, tools, and analyses.
Tap into a uniquely powerful network: Collaborate across multilaterals, NGOs, academia, and industry through the Foundation’s partnership model.
Stand on a global platform: Benefit from the credibility and reach of a foundation funding work in over 140 countries.
Lead from day one: Own high-priority projects with clear outcomes and stakeholders.
Grow faster with expert mentorship: Learn from leaders across AI, health, development, and policy while building a portfolio of real-world impact.
Compensation: The fellowship offers a starting salary of $148,920–$162,350, depending on work location. To ensure equity, all AI Fellows receive the same compensation within this structure.
