(MENAFN) Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates declared Saturday that artificial intelligence will fundamentally reshape creativity, education, healthcare, and global economic systems, cautioning that nations and regions embracing the technology earliest will determine its trajectory while stressing that Africa cannot afford to fall behind.

Addressing attendees at the Doha Forum 2025, Gates characterized AI's influence as universal, likening it to "chips or electricity or advanced medicines," and emphasized that the technology's true power emerges not from replicating existing infrastructure but from innovative application across societies.

"All we can say today is that the people who jump in early — that is where a lot of creativity is going to come," he stated.

"Because Africa is young, they'll have a disproportionate number of the people who have kind of new ideas about how to shape it and take it."

Gates predicted AI will revolutionize creative and artistic sectors spanning cinema, photography, literature, and design.

"Across the entire world, the idea of how AI is going to change creativity — making movies, photos, books — it's really very open-ended," he noted.

He acknowledged that core AI models will predominantly originate from the US and China given their scientific infrastructure, yet assured universal access remains guaranteed because "there'll be lots of free open-source capability," while fierce market competition will maintain affordability of commercial platforms.

Gates underscored AI's capacity to transform public services across impoverished regions, particularly in Africa, where the Gates Foundation concentrates its primary efforts.

"One of the great things about AI is that anyone who has a cell phone will have the ability to dial a number or connect through an application and simply talk to a doctor — a virtual doctor — which is driven by AI," he explained.

Such systems, he observed, would retain "everything they've ever said about their health," deliver round-the-clock medical guidance, and remain free for users.

Identical technology, Gates argued, can assist agricultural workers through AI-powered recommendations on soil conditions, climate patterns, seed selection, and animal husbandry.

He contended that equipping farmers with advanced tools and improved genetics could transform agriculture into Africa's dominant economic driver.

"The opportunity for that sector is to more than overcome those headwinds and turn this into the primary area of big economic growth."

Childhood survival
Discussing the Gates Foundation's core mission, the billionaire investor revealed his organization launched in 2000 to help children realize their full capabilities by combating diseases and conditions "that almost no money was being put into," despite causing millions of deaths.

He pointed out that malaria claimed "about 600,000 children" this year alone.

"It is truly insane that a world that's this rich doesn't find the resources" to eliminate the disease, he stated.

"There's every reason to think we should be able to get rid of malaria that no child should ever suffer from that."

Gates identified malnutrition as among the most dangerous yet poorly understood threats to childhood development.

"You cannot be educated to any reasonable level if you've been malnourished," he said, characterizing it as an "evil" that blocks children's physical and cognitive growth.

Gates identified equitable AI access as the paramount challenge facing the global community.

"Making sure that AI… is available, particularly to young people in the Global South — I'd say that is one thing our foundation has taken on as a goal," he said.

In certain instances, he maintained, innovation emerging from Africa could "show the entire world how these innovators in the Global South are taking this new tool and taking advantage of it."

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