When Bill Gates rolls out his “philanthropic” agenda in Africa, caution is warranted — especially when OpenAI is now part of the effort. The Gates Foundation’s push into African health care reflects a familiar pattern of imposing Western industrial models that have already failed farmers and communities. The same foundation that drove AGRA’s disastrous green revolution — increasing hunger by 31% while degrading soil and locking farmers into costly corporate inputs — now seeks to reshape health systems with Global North AI, sidelining local knowledge, accountability and sovereignty.
AI offers a pragmatic response to Africa’s severe health care worker shortage, an approach promoted by Bill Gates to scale care where human capacity is limited. These tools can improve diagnosis, reduce administrative burden and extend services to underserved communities without waiting decades for new staff. Rwanda’s AI-powered Health Intelligence Center shows how technology can close gaps that traditional hiring would take generations to address. In overstretched health systems, AI can compress time, amplify expertise and save lives.
There is a 44% chance that there will be a major AI-related health care class action lawsuit before 2028, according to the Metaculus prediction community.
© 2026 Improve the News Foundation.
All rights reserved.
Version 6.18.0