logo
Funders commit $1b toward developing ai tools for frontline workers

Funders commit $1b toward developing ai tools for frontline workers

Al Arabiya17-07-2025
A coalition of funders including the Gates Foundation and Ballmer Group will spend $1 billion over 15 years to help develop artificial intelligence tools for public defenders, parole officers, social workers and others who help Americans in precarious situations. The funders announced Thursday that they will create a new entity NextLadder Ventures to offer grants and investments to nonprofits and for-profits to develop tools for those who often manage huge caseloads with few resources.
'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. The other funders include hedge fund founder John Overdeck and Valhalla Foundation, which was started by Inuit cofounder Steve Cook and his wife, Signe Ostby. Ballmer Group is the philanthropy of former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer and his wife, Connie. The funders declined to reveal the exact financial commitments made by each of the contributors. The point of investing in these AI tools is to spur economic mobility, a focus all the funders share, they said.
The funders believe there are many ideas for how AI technologies could help match people with resources after a disaster or an eviction, for example, or help a parole officer close out more cases for people who have met all of the criteria but are waiting for the paperwork to be processed. '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. He will also serve as a member on NextLadder's board, which will include three independent board members and representatives from the other funders. NextLadder will be led by Ryan Rippel, who previously directed the Gates Foundation's economic mobility portfolio. The funder group has not yet determined if NextLadder will incorporate as a nonprofit or a for profit organization, but said any returns they make from investments will go back into funding new initiatives.
NextLadder will partner with AI company Anthropic, which will offer technical expertise and access to its technologies to the nonprofits and companies it invests in. Anthropic has committed around $1.5 million annually to the partnership, said Elizabeth Kelly, its head of beneficial deployments, which is a team that focuses on giving back to society. 'We want to hand-hold grantees through their use of Claude with the same care and commitment we provide to our largest enterprise customers,' Kelly said, referencing Anthropic's large language model.
Hooks of Stand Together said philanthropy can reduce the riskiness of these types of investments and offer organizations more time to prove out their ideas. 'If we're successful, this will be the first capital to demonstrate what's possible,' Hooks said. Researchers like those at the Active Learning Network for Accountability and Performance in humanitarian action have studied some of the risks associated with using AI tools when interacting with sensitive populations or handling high-stakes interactions, for example, in humanitarian contexts. They recommend assessing whether AI is the best tool to solve the problem and crucially if it works reliably and accurately enough in high-risk settings. They also recommend assessing tools for bias, considering privacy protections and weighing the cost of potential dependence on a specific provider. The National Institute of Standards and Technology also emphasizes that trustworthy AI systems should be accountable to users and that it should be possible to explain or trace how a tool arrived at a certain conclusion or decision.
Hooks emphasized that any AI tools NextLadder invests in will be shaped by the needs and feedback of these frontline workers. 'Tools that don't work for them won't succeed,' he said. Even with the potential risks of AI tools, he said it's imperative that groups that are struggling to move up the economic ladder have access to new technologies. 'The idea that we would deprive those who are struggling in our country from the benefits of the leading edge solutions is unacceptable,' Hooks said.
Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

China Calls for New Global AI Body amid Fierce Competition with US
China Calls for New Global AI Body amid Fierce Competition with US

Leaders

time3 hours ago

  • Leaders

China Calls for New Global AI Body amid Fierce Competition with US

China has called for the establishment of a new organization to promote global cooperation on artificial intelligence (AI), reported Reuters. The move is widely seen as an attempt by China to position itself as an alternative to the US as the two countries feverishly compete for dominance in this pivotal technology. Coordinating Global Efforts During the annual World Artificial Intelligence Conference (WAIC) in Shanghai, China's Premier, Li Qiang, said that Beijing wants to contribute to coordinating international efforts to regulate the fast-evolving AI technology and share the Chinese advances in that critical field. Li added that Beijing advocates for open AI access, promoting equal rights for its use by all nations and businesses. He added that China is ready to share its expertise and products with other countries, especially the Global South – a term that refers to developing, emerging or lower-income countries, mostly in the southern hemisphere. The state-sponsored WAIC conference attracts leading companies, government officials, researchers and investors. This year's edition has seen the participation of more than 800 companies, displaying 3,000 high-tech products, 40 large language models, 50 AI-powered devices and 60 intelligent robots. AI Regulation The Chinese Premier pointed to the challenge of regulating AI's growing risks, which included an insufficient supply of AI chips and restrictions on talent exchange, highlighting the importance of global consensus. 'Overall global AI governance is still fragmented. Countries have great differences particularly in terms of areas such as regulatory concepts, institutional rules,' he said. 'We should strengthen coordination to form a global AI governance framework that has broad consensus as soon as possible,' Li added. Global Governance During the conference, China's Vice Foreign Minister, Ma Zhaoxu, said that Beijing wanted the proposed organization to foster pragmatic cooperation in AI. The organization's headquarters would likely be in Shanghai, Ma told a roundtable of representatives from over 30 countries, including Russia, South Africa, Qatar, South Korea and Germany. Moreover, the Chinese Foreign Ministry unveiled an action plan for global AI governance, calling on governments, international organizations, enterprises and research institutions to collaborate and foster international exchanges including through a cross-border open-source community. US-China Competition The Shanghai conference took place amid a heated technological competition between the US and China, with the AI at the center stage. On Wednesday, the US President, Donald Trump, revealed an AI action plan aimed at loosening restrictions on the development and deployment of artificial intelligence. It aims to expand American AI exports to allies, in an attempt to maintain the American edge over China in this critical technology. Without explicitly mentioning Washington, Li appeared to refer to the US' efforts to hamper China's advances in AI, warning that the technology risked becoming the 'exclusive game' of a few countries and companies. The US has banned advanced technology exports to China, including the most high-end AI chips made by companies such as Nvidia, and chipmaking equipment, citing concerns that the technology could boost China's military capabilities. However, these measures failed to curb China's advancements as Beijing has continued making AI breakthroughs. AI Race As the AI is poised to be the most transformative technology of the 21st century, it has become the key battleground in the technological competition between Washington and Beijing. Although the US is still dominating in the production of top AI models, China is closing the gap, according to Stanford's 2025 AI Index Report, issued in April. While the US leads in AI models quantity, China has rapidly shrunk the quality gap to near parity across major benchmarks in 2024. Furthermore, Beijing maintains its leadership in AI publications and patents, the report noted. 'The race is tighter than ever, and no one has a clear lead,' the Stanford report authors concluded. Short link : Post Views: 152

Company involved in Coldplay KissCam drama hires Gwyneth Paltrow as spokesperson
Company involved in Coldplay KissCam drama hires Gwyneth Paltrow as spokesperson

Al Arabiya

time3 hours ago

  • Al Arabiya

Company involved in Coldplay KissCam drama hires Gwyneth Paltrow as spokesperson

Astronomer – the company whose CEO resigned after being caught on a KissCam at a Coldplay rock concert embracing a woman who was not his wife – is trying to move on from the drama with someone who knows the band pretty well. Actress Gwyneth Paltrow, who was married to Coldplay's frontman Chris Martin for 13 years, announced Friday on X that she has been hired by Astronomer as a spokesperson. Astronomer, a tech company based in New York, found itself in an uncomfortable spotlight when two of its executives were caught on camera in an intimate embrace at a Coldplay concert – a moment that was then flashed on a giant screen in the stadium. CEO Andy Byron and human resource executive Kristin Cabot were caught by surprise when Martin asked the cameras to scan the crowd during a concert earlier this month. 'Either they're having an affair or they're just very shy,' Martin joked when the couple appeared on screen and quickly tried to hide their faces. In a short video, the 'Shakespeare in Love' and 'Ironman' star said she had been hired as a very temporary spokesperson for Astronomer. 'Astronomer has gotten a lot of questions over the last few days and they wanted me to answer the most common ones,' Paltrow said, smiling and deftly avoiding mention of the KissCam fuss. 'We've been thrilled that so many people have a newfound interest in data workflow automation,' she said. 'We will now be returning to what we do best – delivering game-changing results for our customers.' When footage from the KissCam first spread online, it wasn't immediately clear who the couple were. Soon after, the company identified the pair and Byron resigned, followed by Cabot. The video clip resulted in a steady stream of memes, parody videos, and screenshots of the pair's shocked faces filling social media feeds. Online streams of Coldplay's songs jumped 20 percent in the days after the video went viral, according to Luminate, an industry data and analytics company.

China's Premier Li Proposes Global AI Cooperation Organization
China's Premier Li Proposes Global AI Cooperation Organization

Asharq Al-Awsat

time7 hours ago

  • Asharq Al-Awsat

China's Premier Li Proposes Global AI Cooperation Organization

Chinese Premier Li Qiang on Saturday proposed establishing an organization to foster global cooperation on artificial intelligence, calling on countries to coordinate on the development and security of the fast-evolving technology. Speaking at the opening of the annual World Artificial Intelligence Conference in Shanghai, Li called AI a new engine for growth but said governance is fragmented and emphasizing the need for more coordination between countries to form a globally recognized framework for AI. The three-day event brings together industry leaders and policymakers at a time of escalating technological competition between China and the United States - the world's two largest economies - with AI emerging as a key battleground. "Overall global AI governance is still fragmented. Countries have great differences particularly in terms of areas such as regulatory concepts, institutional rules," Li said. "We should strengthen coordination to form a global AI governance framework that has broad consensus as soon as possible." Washington has imposed export restrictions on advanced technology to China, including the most high-end AI chips made by companies such as Nvidia and chipmaking equipment, citing concerns that the technology could enhance China's military capabilities. Despite these restrictions, China has continued making AI breakthroughs that have drawn close scrutiny from US officials. Li did not name the United States in his speech but he warned that AI could become an "exclusive game" for a few countries and companies, adding that challenges included an insufficient supply of AI chips and restrictions on talent exchange. GOVERNANCE PLAN China wants to share its development experience and products with other countries, especially those in the Global South, Li said. Also on Saturday, China released an action plan for global AI governance, in which it invited governments, international organizations, enterprises and research institutions to work together and promote international exchanges including through a cross-border open-source community. The plan proposes accelerating digital infrastructure such as clean power, new-generation networks and data centers, according to a statement from China's foreign ministry. The AI conference is an annual government-sponsored event in Shanghai that typically attracts major industry players, government officials, researchers and investors. Saturday's speakers included Anne Bouverot, the French president's special envoy for AI, computer scientist Geoffrey Hinton, known as "the Godfather of AI", and former Google CEO Eric Schmidt. Tesla CEO Elon Musk, who has in past years regularly appeared at the opening ceremony in person or by video, did not speak this year. Besides forums, the conference features exhibitions where companies demonstrate their latest innovations. This year, more than 800 companies are participating, showcasing more than 3,000 high-tech products, 40 large language models, 50 AI-powered devices and 60 intelligent robots, according to organizers. The exhibition features predominantly Chinese companies, including tech giants Huawei and Alibaba and startups such as humanoid robot maker Unitree. Western participants include Tesla, Alphabet and Amazon.

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into a world of global content with local flavor? Download Daily8 app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store