About The AI Access Initiative (2AI)
We’re at an inflection point in artificial intelligence – presenting both tremendous potential opportunity and risk for people in developing countries. AI capabilities are improving on a timescale measured in months, while development systems often move on timescales measured in decades. Much of the technology needed for positive impact exists today, but few organizations exist to bridge research, deployment, and scaled implementation: we must act now to ensure AI’s benefits reach people in poverty in LMICs.
Incubated at Evidence Action, we’re scaling The AI Access Initiative, an organization focused on scaling AI-enabled ‘big bets’ to benefit tens or hundreds of millions of people in poverty in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). We operate at the intersection of global development actors, top AI labs, and leading researchers to drive meaningful access to AI’s benefits for the 3.5 billion people living in poverty globally. We create “public good,” open-sourced playbooks, toolkits, and insights that define how to design and launch tractable and impactful AI-enabled programs. Given the scale of opportunity, we expect our portfolio to expand substantially, but to start, we’re scaling two programs focused on AI in Agriculture and AI in Health.
We are led by former Evidence Action CEO Kanika Bahl, a founding member of Anthropic’s Long-Term Benefit Trust, and advised by Nobel Laureate Michael Kremer; Dario Amodei, CEO of Anthropic; and Kent Walker, President, Global Affairs for Alphabet and Google. This work builds on Evidence Action’s track record reaching 530M+ people with cost-effective, evidence-based programs across 9 countries in Africa and Asia, with a focus on last-mile delivery.
2AI is building fast. We have a founding team, two live program portfolios, and a pipeline of opportunities that will drive significant expansion. The programs we are running have credible pathways to 100s of millions of people. While incubated at Evidence Action, we plan to spin out in Q4 '26.
Our Agriculture portfolio is scaling AI-enabled weather forecasting services to reach tens of millions of smallholder farmers, in close partnership with state and national governments in India. The next phase is to expand this work: deciding which countries we move into next and building what it takes to operate there. We are seeking a rigorous, high-ownership Associate Director or Director, Expansion & Partnerships to own that expansion end to end, from market selection and government and telco partnerships through to standing up offices and teams in new markets.
This role is based in India and sits on 2AI’s global team, reporting into the VP, Agriculture. It includes people leadership, managing at least one senior manager across the program. You will work closely with our India country team and other in-country team members to scope and expand programming.