A group of big-name funders, including the Gates Foundation and the Ballmer Group, is putting $1 billion over the next 15 years into building AI tools to support people like public defenders, social workers, and parole officers and those who help others through tough times.
Other backers include hedge fund founder John Overdeck and the Valhalla Foundation, started by Intuit cofounder Scott Cook and his wife, Signe Ostby. The Ballmer Group, run by former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer and his wife Connie, is also part of the effort. But none of them shared how much each is putting in.
“The solutions that we’re investing in, the hundreds of entrepreneurs that are going to bring forward solutions that incorporate leading edge technologies, are going to do it by coming alongside people who are living through some of the struggles in the economy,” said Brian Hooks, CEO of Stand Together, a nonprofit started by Kansas-based billionaire Charles Koch.
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According to the funders, they’re all in on this because they want to boost economic mobility to help people move up in life. They believe AI can make a real difference, like quickly connecting someone to help after a disaster or eviction, or helping a parole officer wrap up cases faster when someone’s done everything they need to, but is stuck waiting on paperwork.
“As we traded notes on where we were making investments and where we saw broader gaps in the sector, it was readily apparent that there was a real opportunity to come together as a group of cofunders and cofounders to establish a new kind of investment organization,” said Kevin Bromer, who leads the technology and data strategy at Ballmer Group.
They’ve also set up a new group called NextLadder Ventures, which will give out grants and investments to nonprofits and companies working on tools that can ease the burden on professionals as well.
NextLadder will be headed by Ryan Rippel, who used to lead the Gates Foundation’s work on economic mobility. It’s still undecided whether NextLadder will be a nonprofit or a for-profit, but the group says any money made from investments will be reinvested into future projects. They’re also teaming up with AI company Anthropic, which will support the nonprofits and companies NextLadder backs by sharing its tech and expertise. Anthropic is putting in about $1.5 million a year into the partnership, as part of its mission to use AI for social good.
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Suzy Madigan, who leads Care International UK’s work on Responsible AI, has been looking closely at both the promise and the pitfalls of using AI in humanitarian work. She noted there’s been a noticeable push to see how AI can step in and cover gaps. She told The Associated Press, “The rise of artificial intelligence being deployed in more sensitive contexts brings some really important new ethical and governance questions because it can actually exacerbate increasing inequalities, even when there were good intentions behind it.”
She further explained that the key to making sure AI doesn’t harm vulnerable communities is to involve those very communities at every step. From designing and deploying the tools to evaluating how they’re actually working on the ground. And importantly, she stressed that these technologies should support, not replace the frontline staff.