Latest news with #NextLadderVentures
Time of India
5 days ago
- Business
- Time of India
Bill Gates' wealth to reduce further; Microsoft co-founder and 4 others pledge $1 billion for this AI project
The charitable foundations of Bill Gates and four other billionaires have pledged over $1 billion to fund NextLadder Ventures . This is a new philanthropic initiative that is focused on improving economic mobility through the use of artificial intelligence (AI). This commitment is set to further impact the net worth of the Microsoft co-founder, who recently lost his spot in the top 10 rankings of the Bloomberg Billionaire Index . Apart from Gates ($116.9 billion net worth), the billionaires that are involved in this initiative include Koch Industries founder Charles Koch ($67.5 billion), Microsoft's former CEO Steve Ballmer ($142.5 billion), Intuit founder Scott Cook ($7.7 billion), and hedge fund investor John Overdeck ($7.4 billion). NextLadder Ventures will partner with Google and Amazon-backed AI startup Anthropic and support organisations using AI and other emerging technologies to enhance the financial prospects of low-income Americans. Three of these philanthropists, Gates (No. 2), Ballmer (No. 8), and Koch (No. 25), are already ranked among America's top 25 philanthropists by Forbes. Gates, along with his former wife, Melinda French Gates, has previously contributed an estimated $47.7 billion, primarily through the Gates Foundation, for health and poverty alleviation efforts. In 2024, the Gates Foundation reportedly made nearly $200 million in grants through its US Economic Mobility & Opportunity and Women's Economic Empowerment programs. Bill Gates is out of the top 10 richest list This announcement comes after Gates fell out of the top ten on the Bloomberg Billionaires Index after a recent recalculation that accounts for his significant charitable donations. His estimated net worth dropped by about $52 billion, which is roughly 30%, bringing it down from over $175 billion to $123 billion. As a result, Gates slipped from fifth to twelfth place. His former assistant and Microsoft CEO successor, Steve Ballmer, has now overtaken him with a net worth of $172 billion, claiming the fifth spot. Gates is currently behind several other tech leaders, including Alphabet co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, and his longtime friend Warren Buffett. Bloomberg noted that the update adjusts asset appreciation assumptions to better reflect Gates' philanthropic contributions and aligns with the wealth figure he shared in a blog post this May. AI Masterclass for Students. Upskill Young Ones Today!– Join Now
Associated Press
17-07-2025
- Business
- Associated Press
Funders commit $1B toward developing AI tools for frontline workers
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. ___ Associated Press coverage of philanthropy and nonprofits receives support through the AP's collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content. For all of AP's philanthropy coverage, visit
Washington Post
17-07-2025
- Business
- Washington Post
Funders commit $1B toward developing AI tools for frontline workers
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.
Al Arabiya
17-07-2025
- Business
- Al Arabiya
Funders commit $1b toward developing ai tools for frontline workers
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.
