Gates Foundation AI Fellows Program 2027 for Young African Innovators

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Applications are open for Gates Foundation AI Fellows Program 2027. The AI Fellows Program at the Gates Foundation is dedicated to accelerating the responsible and impactful use of AI in global health, development, and education.

You will be joining the first Africa-based AI Fellows cohort where you work alongside our Africa team, our partners and government counterparts to bring AI tooling to clarify and make decisions that matter most. Each fellow will be assigned 1–2 high-priority projects that will help accelerate achieving the foundation’s mission.

Note: This is a 12-month limited term employment position based in Abuja, Nigeria / Addis Ababa, Ethiopia / Johannesburg, South Africa / Nairobi, Kenya. Candidates must be able to legally work in the country where this position is located without visa sponsorship and relocation support will not be provided.

Sample project areas include:

Build decision-support tools across multiple African countries that unify disparate financing flow systems, conducts a periodic bottleneck diagnostics and supports informed decision-making.
Design and prototype a solution to reduce stockouts of essential medicines at district and facility level, targeting countries facing drawdown of US Government-funded logistics management capacity.
Strengthen health planning and supply chain systems by building an AI decision-support tool that ranks interventions against budget ceilings and traces prioritized interventions through procurement and cash release, developing a predictive analytics layer to forecast stock-out risk and flag redistribution opportunities before expiry

Gates Foundation AI Fellows Program Benefits

Apply AI where it matters most: Work on problems core to the Foundation’s mission—health, development, and education so more people can live healthy, productive lives.
Drive outsized results in LMICs: Aim solutions at countries and communities the Foundation prioritize, where innovation can move the needle fastest.
Advance digital public goods: Contribute to safe, inclusive digital public infrastructure and health innovation efforts where AI can accelerate access and equity. Partner with Program Strategy Teams to deliver tangible prototypes, tools, and analyses.
Tap into a uniquely powerful network: Collaborate across multilaterals, NGOs, academia, and industry through the Foundation’s partnership model.
Stand on a global platform: Benefit from the credibility and reach of a foundation funding work in over 140 countries.
Lead from day one: Own high-priority projects with clear outcomes and partners.
Grow faster with expert mentorship: Learn from leaders across AI, health, development, and policy while building a portfolio of real-world impact.

Your Role

The AI Fellows Program at the Gates Foundation is designed to accelerate the responsible and impactful use of AI in global health, development, and education. Our goal is to attract top-tier, mission-aligned AI talent to drive innovation in these areas. Building on the success of our US and India-based cohorts, we are expanding our program to Africa. As a Gates AI Fellow, you will join a prestigious cohort applying AI for public good and gain career-defining experience, access to Gates’ powerful network, and exposure to senior leadership.

This role offers the unique opportunity to collaborate across multiple divisions within the Foundation—including Global Health (GH), Gender Equality (GE), Global Development (GD), and Global Growth & Opportunity (GGO)— to bridge the possibilities of frontier AI technology with the realities of deployment to create real, meaningful impact.

Over the course of 12 months, each AI Fellow will be assigned to high-priority projects, embedded within our Africa team. Fellows may contribute to multiple AI-oriented projects over the course of the fellowship, including concurrently, and should be comfortable adapting their technical approach as project needs evolve.

Eligibility Criteria

Education: Candidates must hold a bachelor’s or master’s degree (in Computer Science, Data Science, Engineering, Applied Math or relevant field).
Experience: At least 2 years of experience applying AI solutions, preferably in health or agricultural systems.
AI Technology: Strong foundation in modern AI/ML, including ML/AI modeling, model evaluation, and hands-on experience with LLMs, combined with software engineering and data skills needed to build end-to-end applied solutions. Evidence may come from applied coursework, research, internships, or early professional experience.
AI Applications: Demonstrated interest in applying AI to fields such as health systems, public financial management, supply chain and logistics, with enthusiasm and literacy to use modern AI tools safely and pragmatically (direct AI research experience not required). Candidates should be comfortable learning across adjacent technical areas – such as data engineering, time-series analysis, optimization, information retrieval, or decision-support systems – as project needs evolve.
Collaborative Mindset: Strong teamwork and adaptability, with experience working cross-functionally in complex environments.
Communication Skills: Demonstrated ability to clearly articulate technical concepts and recommendations to both technical and non-technical audiences.
Mission-Driven Ethos: Deep motivation to apply AI responsibly for public good, with alignment to equitable development and global health impact.
Builder and Teacher Approach: Hands-on experience building prototypes with LLMs and other modern AI tools (e.g., using open-source tools or API-based platforms), with the judgment to connect AI components to the broader data and software systems needed for real-world use. Willingness to share findings openly and ability to teach and enable others, not just deliver technical outputs.