The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation India office is now accepting applications for its first-ever AI Fellows cohort—a unique opportunity to apply artificial intelligence to real-world challenges in health, agriculture, and development.
This 12-month fellowship places selected candidates on high-impact projects, where they will work closely with program teams and receive structured mentorship while building innovative AI-driven solutions.
About the Program
Each fellow will be embedded within Strategic Initiatives or Programmatic Strategy Teams, contributing to priority projects that address critical development challenges. Fellows will also be supported by experienced mentors and gain exposure to interdisciplinary collaboration across sectors.
Fellowship Focus Areas
Five fellows will be selected, each working on a specialized AI application area:
AI Fellow #1: Maternal & Fetal Health Risk Stratification
Work with longitudinal pregnancy datasets to improve maternal and fetal health outcomes.
Develop AI models for early detection of conditions such as gestational diabetes and preeclampsia.
Build prototype risk-scoring tools for frontline healthcare decision-making.
AI Fellow #2: AI Agricultural Advisory
Integrate weather, satellite, and agronomic data into advisory tools for farmers.
Develop conversational AI interfaces (voice and text) for smallholder engagement.
Support climate risk prediction and crop advisory systems.
AI Fellow #3: AI for Immunization Coverage
Apply AI/ML to identify underserved populations (zero-dose and dropout children).
Develop targeting algorithms and dashboards to improve vaccination outreach.
Enhance last-mile delivery and monitoring systems.
AI Fellow #4: AI for Drug Discovery
Explore AI applications in target identification, molecule design, and screening.
Work with multimodal datasets including genomics and clinical data.
Collaborate with research institutions to strengthen AI-driven discovery pipelines.
AI Fellow #5: Rapid Prototyping of Applied AI Solutions
Develop AI prototypes across sectors like health, education, and agriculture.
Use tools such as chatbots, knowledge graphs, and AI frameworks.
Promote responsible AI practices and build internal toolkits and learning resources.
Benefits
Hands-on experience working on real-world AI projects
Mentorship from experts within the foundation
Exposure to global development challenges and interdisciplinary teams
Opportunity to build scalable, impactful AI solutions
Access to a strong professional network
Why This Opportunity Matters
This fellowship goes beyond theory—offering a chance to directly contribute to solutions that improve health systems, food security, and economic opportunities. It is ideal for individuals who want to use AI for meaningful, large-scale impact.
How to Apply
For more Fellowship opportunities, visit OFY here.
