05-29-2026IMPACT COUNCIL

AI can change the world—if we change who it’s built for

The funding gap needs to be addressed for social impact innovation.

[Photo: Getty Images]

The Fast Company Impact Council is an invitation-only membership community of top leaders and experts who pay dues for access to peer learning, thought leadership, and more.

In the first quarter of 2026, investors deployed $300 billion into 6,000 startups, up 150% from previous years. Only a single-digit sliver of that capital is directed toward AI applications focused on solving social and environmental challenges.

That gap is not an accident. It reinforces who AI is being built for, and who it’s leaving out. And that failure is costing us some of the best and most-needed solutions being built outside of Menlo Park.

Here is what I mean. When Temie Giwa-Tubosun started LifeBank in Nigeria, hospitals were running out of blood. She couldn’t build for ideal conditions because ideal conditions didn’t exist. Every assumption had to survive contact with reality: inconsistent power, fragmented logistics, traffic jams of mythical proportions, and hospitals that couldn’t afford to wait. The result was an AI-enabled delivery network coordinating supply and demand........

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