These  Billionaires Are Giving $1 Billion To Boost Economic Mobility Using A.I. - video Dailymotion

Forbes

Five of America’s top philanthropists are teaming up for a new venture aimed at helping low-income Americans rise from poverty. An AI giant has signed on to help.  Read the full story on Forbes: https://www.forbes.com/sites/mattdurot/2025/07/17/bill-gates-charles-koch-and-three-other-billionaires-are-giving-1-billion-to-enhance-economic-mobility-in-the-us/  Subscribe to FORBES: https://www.youtube.com/user/Forbes?sub_confirmation=1  Fuel your success with Forbes. Gain unlimited access to premium journalism, including breaking news, groundbreaking in-depth reported stories, daily digests and more. Plus, members get a front-row seat at members-only events with leading thinkers and doers, access to premium video that can help you get ahead, an ad-light experience, early access to select products including NFT drops and more:  https://account.forbes.com/membership/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=display&utm_campaign=growth_non-sub_paid_subscribe_ytdescript  Stay Connected Forbes newsletters: https://newsletters.editorial.forbes.com Forbes on Facebook: http://fb.com/forbes Forbes Video on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/forbes Forbes Video on Instagram: http://instagram.com/forbes More From Forbes:  http://forbes.com  Forbes covers the intersection of entrepreneurship, wealth, technology, business and lifestyle with a focus on people and success.

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00:00Today on Forbes, Bill Gates, Charles Koch, and three other billionaires are giving one

00:05billion dollars to boost economic mobility using AI.

00:10It's getting harder to climb the economic ladder in America.

00:14So five billionaires, who have all risen to great heights from different starting points,

00:19have banded together in an attempt to reverse the trend and to restore belief in the idea

00:24of the US as a land of equal opportunity.

00:27On July 17th, the charitable foundations of billionaires Bill Gates, whose net worth as

00:32of that date was $116.9 billion, Charles Koch, worth $67.5 billion, Steve Ballmer, worth $142.5

00:43billion, Intuit founder Scott Cook, worth $7.7 billion, and hedge fund investor John Overdeck,

00:50worth $7.4 billion, announced a more than $1 billion pledge to fund a new philanthropic

00:56vehicle focused on economic mobility called Next Ladder Ventures.

01:01That entity will partner with artificial intelligence giant Anthropic and will support organizations

01:06focused on using AI and other emerging technologies to improve the financial trajectory of low-income

01:13Americans.

01:14Koch wrote in his latest book, Believe in People, Bottom-Up Solutions for a Top-Down World,

01:19quote, Entire communities are coming apart at the seams and upward mobility is fading for

01:24huge numbers of people, especially those who need it most. Suicide rates are rising, as are

01:30deaths from drug overdose. America is on a trajectory toward a two-tiered society, one in which fewer

01:36people get ahead and more fall behind.

01:38Now Koch, with four other billionaire co-founders and Next Ladder Ventures, is hoping to help change

01:45that. Next Ladder Ventures' CEO, Ryan Ripple, previously led the Gates Foundation's economic

01:51mobility efforts and served as interim chief of staff to the Gates Foundation's CEO and

01:56as special assistant to its co-chair, Bill Gates. Ripple tells Forbes, quote,

02:01It's exciting that this has been co-founded by five individuals and organizations who

02:06have long track records of investing in economic opportunity. In the course of doing this work

02:10over the years, they have all come around to a common question of, how do we actually do

02:15more for individuals and families who are facing these enormous barriers every day?

02:21Ripple, who is 43 years old, is passionate about the mission, having grown up in a single-parent

02:26household in central Missouri after his father died in a car accident in 1985. He lost his mother

02:33to breast cancer nearly two decades later and inherited hundreds of thousands of dollars of

02:38medical debt due to the family's lack of good insurance. His story is not unique. More than 1 in

02:4510 Americans are living below the poverty line, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Meanwhile, more

02:51than half of the country's citizens lack economic security, meaning that they aren't able to set

02:56aside any savings after dealing with their monthly expenses, per the non-profit Urban Institute.

03:02Advances in AI and other emerging technologies could play a big role in helping to address these

03:07problems. NextLadder Ventures plans to deploy its initial $1 billion funding commitment over the

03:14next seven years to support both non-profit and for-profit organizations that share its mission

03:19via a mix of grants, equity investments, and revenue-based financing, where it will receive a

03:25percentage of company sales rather than stock. Any profits generated by NextLadder Ventures'

03:31equity investments and revenue-based financing arrangements will be reinvested to support its

03:36philanthropic mission. While NextLadder Ventures hasn't made any funding commitments yet, there are a

03:42number of non-profits and for-profit companies that its founders have backed or considered backing

03:46individually that could be a good fit for their new organization. One example is the non-profit

03:52CarePortal, which has developed a platform that connects children and families in need with

03:57local churches, businesses, and community groups that can provide resources like housing, medical

04:03attention, and emotional support to help keep kids out of foster care. Another is the for-profit

04:09startup Rasa Legal, whose technology helps its customers expunge their criminal records for

04:14nearly a tenth of the typical cost.

04:18Anthropic will provide AI processing power and technical assistance at no cost to the beneficiaries

04:24of NextLadder Ventures' funding to help them innovate and bring their technological solutions

04:28to market faster.

04:31For full coverage, check out Matt Duro's piece on Forbes.com.

These Billionaires Are Giving $1 Billion To Boost Economic Mobility Using A.I.

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