The Gates Foundation is committing about $400 million to artificial intelligence in education, as part of a broader $1 billion investment aimed at expanding equitable access to AI tools across schools, healthcare, agriculture and other sectors.
The education funding will support tools such as AI-powered tutoring, with the foundation saying the goal is to help students who are falling behind and to test whether AI can improve learning outcomes in low-income schools. The initiative will also include teacher training and independent evaluation before wider rollout.
However, some teachers and education experts have warned that introducing more AI into classrooms could deepen existing inequalities if schools do not have the staff capacity, training and basic learning foundations needed to use the technology effectively.
Educators interviewed by Fortune said AI can help with lesson planning, personalised explanations and administrative tasks, but stressed that it cannot replace teacher judgment or strong foundational learning in reading and mathematics.
Others cautioned that schools serving disadvantaged students may be the least prepared to absorb new technology, creating a risk that better-resourced institutions move ahead faster while lower-resourced schools fall further behind.
The Gates Foundation says the investment is designed specifically to address that gap by prioritising schools serving low-income students and ensuring the tools are tested before being scaled.
The debate comes as education systems around the world are still assessing how generative AI should be used in classrooms and whether its benefits outweigh the risks for younger learners.
For social-impact organisations and education funders, the key issue is whether AI investment can improve learning without diverting attention from more basic needs such as literacy, numeracy, teacher support and equitable access to quality education.
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