1 week ago
Gates Foundation Sees India Leading AI Health, Agriculture Innovation
Mark Suzman of the Gates Foundation said India is doing important work with artificial intelligence.
AI is being used to help doctors and health workers.
New tools may help monitor pregnant women and find tuberculosis.
Other tools can help health workers decide how to treat children with fevers.
AI is also being used to help farmers.
A new application can speak local languages and provide weather and soil information.
It can also explain choices about seeds, fertilizers and government support.
The foundation wants to expand successful Indian projects to other developing countries, including countries in Africa.
Suzman said these tools must become cheaper so more people can use them.
Gates Foundation CEO Mark Suzman called India a hotbed of artificial intelligence innovation.
The foundation is developing AI tools for tuberculosis diagnosis, pregnancy monitoring and childhood fever treatment.
Its agricultural application offers farmers local-language access to weather, soil, seeds, fertilizers and government services.
The foundation is working with India’s Department of Agriculture to scale the application beyond initial state-level efforts.
Suzman said affordability is essential, citing tuberculosis diagnostic costs falling below USD 2 from about USD 20.
- Who
- Mark Suzman, CEO of the Gates Foundation, and the foundation’s partners.
- What
- They are developing and scaling artificial intelligence applications for healthcare and agriculture.
- Where
- New Delhi, India, with potential expansion to other developing countries.
- When
- August 25, during the AVPN conference 2026.
- Why
- To improve access to healthcare and agricultural information while making innovations affordable at scale.
Key facts
- Health applications
- Low-cost sensors and AI tools are being developed for pregnancy monitoring, tuberculosis diagnosis and childhood fever treatment.
- Agriculture application
- The application provides local-language access to weather forecasts, soil-health information, seed and fertilizer guidance, and government services.
- Indian collaboration
- The foundation initially worked at the state level, including in Maharashtra, and is now working with the Department of Agriculture.
- Diagnostic cost
- A tuberculosis diagnostic test developed with an Indian partner costs less than USD 2, compared with a historical cost of about USD 20.
- Expansion goal
- The Gates Foundation hopes to scale successful Indian AI models in India and adapt them for countries across Africa.
- Main challenge
- Suzman identified affordability as a key challenge in deploying innovations at scale.
Quotes
Mark Suzman
CEO of the Gates Foundation
“We have been developing low-cost sensors that can help in hospitals. That can actually help look at, say, pregnant mothers or do diagnoses around tuberculosis”
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“We hope to both achieve scale here in India with AI. But again take many of those models and help them work in countries across the continent of Africa”
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Sources
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