--- title: Insights - What's Your AI Mindset? description: Our May newsletter highlights some of the most compelling AI use cases in international development as well as new AI funding image: https://www.commonsensing.ai/hubfs/CSAI%20Logo%20-%20Transparent%20222x198.png --- [Skip to content](https://www.commonsensing.ai/insights/aifordevelopment#main-content) [![CommonSensing AI](https://www.commonsensing.ai/hs-fs/hubfs/CSAI%20Logo%20-%20Transparent%20222x198-1.png?width=222&height=198&name=CSAI%20Logo%20-%20Transparent%20222x198-1.png)Homepage](https://www.commonsensing.ai/?hsLang=en) - [Services](https://www.commonsensing.ai/home?hsLang=en#services) - [About](https://www.commonsensing.ai/home?hsLang=en#about) - [Team](https://www.commonsensing.ai/home?hsLang=en#team) - [Insights](https://www.commonsensing.ai/insights?hsLang=en) [Get In Touch](https://www.commonsensing.ai/insights/aifordevelopment#contact) - [Services](https://www.commonsensing.ai/home?hsLang=en#services) - [About](https://www.commonsensing.ai/home?hsLang=en#about) - [Team](https://www.commonsensing.ai/home?hsLang=en#team) - [Insights](https://www.commonsensing.ai/insights?hsLang=en) [Get In Touch](https://www.commonsensing.ai/insights/aifordevelopment#contact) # AI for Development: Real Impact + Growing Funding May 2026 **AI IN ACTION** **IRC delivering learning solutions where access is lowest** The IRC's aprendIA platform is an easy-to-use AI-driven chatbot delivering personalized learning to teachers in crisis-affected settings through messaging apps like WhatsApp. It doesn't require broadband, laptops, or specialist staff. In northeast Nigeria, it has scaled from around 400 teachers to 4,700 — in partnership with state Ministries of Education, and is expected to reach over 22,000 before the end of 2026. The IRC is targeting 1 million learners. What makes this noteworthy is the fit to local context: low bandwidth, local languages, asynchronous use, and close collaboration with educators on the ground. [International Rescue Committee](https://www.rescue.org/irc-responsible-ai-humanitarian-sector) **WFP can now predict famine before it strikes** WFP's new HungerMap Live platform released in April 2026, integrates food security data from more than 300 analysts and dozens of partners with AI-assisted predictive modelling across more than 50 countries. WFP estimates that for every dollar invested in anticipatory action programs, a minimum of seven dollars is saved. It arrives as nearly 318 million people face acute food insecurity while humanitarian funding continues to decline. [UN World Food Programme](https://www.wfp.org/news/wfp-releases-hungermap-live-modernized-intelligence-platform-turns-data-global-hunger-early) **$60M to evaluate which AI health tools actually work** Most AI health tools deployed in the Global South have never been properly evaluated. The Gates Foundation, Novo Nordisk Foundation, and Wellcome committed $60M in February 2026 to fund locally led evaluations of AI clinical decision support tools, covering triage, diagnosis, and referral, in primary care settings across sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia, and Southeast Asia. The focus on rigorous evidence before scale-up is important and often overlooked. [Gates Foundation](https://www.gatesfoundation.org/ideas/media-center/press-releases/2026/02/ai-impact-health) **FUNDING** **Gates Foundation + Anthropic — $200M** Anthropic and the Gates Foundation are committing $200 million over four years to deploy AI across global health, education, and economic mobility programs - targeting vaccine development for neglected diseases, African-language datasets, and AI literacy tools in sub-Saharan Africa and India. Datasets will be made publicly available. [Yahoo Finance](https://finance.yahoo.com/sectors/healthcare/articles/anthropic-gates-foundation-launch-200m-172229798.html) **Humanity AI — $18M+ for public-interest AI** Humanity AI is a $500M pooled fund with the goal of ensuring artificial intelligence serves people, not just the organizations building it. The fund recently awarded $8M to 12 grantees across democratic institutions, workers' rights, journalism, and education. A $10M open call is planned for summer 2026. Backing foundations include MacArthur, Ford, Mellon, and Omidyar Network. [Causeartist](https://www.causeartist.com/blog/humanity-ai-awards-18m-to-shape-ai-for-the-public-good) **Tipping Point Community — $40.3M for AI workforce resilience** The Bay Area anti-poverty nonprofit raised over $40M to advance economic opportunity a major new initiative aiming to ensure the Bay Area’s low-income residents aren’t left behind as artificial intelligence reshapes employment opportunities across the region. [San Francisco Examiner](https://www.sfexaminer.com/news/tipping-point-community-raises-40-million-to-ready-bay-area-workers-for-ai-economy/article_ec463b5e-2ce9-4477-af80-e42aa713f371.html) **BRIEFLY** **Pope Leo XIV** has created a Vatican AI study group ahead of his first encyclical, expected to frame AI through the lens of human dignity and peace — to echo Leo XIII's *Rerum Novarum* on labor and the Industrial Revolution. [Gulf News](https://gulfnews.com/world/pope-creates-artificial-intelligence-study-group-as-vatican-prepares-to-release-his-first-encyclical-1.500542449)  *CommonSensing AI helps nonprofit leaders determine the path forward for AI in their organizations to unlock real impact.* [![CommonSensing AI](https://www.commonsensing.ai/hs-fs/hubfs/CSAI%20Logo%20-%20Transparent%20222x198-1.png?width=222&height=198&name=CSAI%20Logo%20-%20Transparent%20222x198-1.png "CommonSensing AI")](http:/?hsLang=en) - [Services](https://www.commonsensing.ai/home?hsLang=en#services) - [About](https://www.commonsensing.ai/home?hsLang=en#about) - [Team](https://www.commonsensing.ai/home?hsLang=en#team) - [Insights](https://www.commonsensing.ai/insights?hsLang=en) ---  © 2026 CommonSensing AI.  All rights reserved.