StartGiving was honoured to host Microsoft co-founder and the world’s leading philanthropist, Bill Gates, in conversation with Daniel Petre AO, our founder and chair.
In front of an invited audience of tech founders, investors and Australian philanthropy leaders, Bill reflected on the power of giving, the pace of AI-driven innovation and the need for everyone with the means to give meaningfully and with impact.
During the wide-ranging, open and relaxed hour-long conversation, Bill spoke about his early family influences that instilled in him a responsibility to give back, the personal challenge of running Microsoft and the Gates Foundation and his thoughts on the Foundation’s continued and expanding focus on global health.
Bill’s most animated moments came when recounting numerous examples of Gates Foundation-funded health innovations across vaccinations and field medicine which have saved and improved countless lives, especially those of women and girls.
On AI, Bill sees significant opportunities for its use to dramatically speed up medical research and software development (and if you’re a founder and not using it to write your code, you will be left behind). He also believes that improving human welfare should be the top priority of our energy and climate efforts.
Bill and Daniel’s connection goes back decades and was cemented when Daniel worked directly for Bill at Microsoft’s Seattle campus in the 1990s. Daniel’s first-hand experience of Bill’s views on the responsibilities of people who can give back to do so, and the vibrant culture of giving in the US inspired him to establish the Petre Foundation over 30 years ago, and, more recently, StartGiving.
StartGiving is incredibly grateful to the Gates Foundation for its generous support of this event, and for Bill’s time to share his passion and commitment to philanthropy with an Australian audience.