New Delhi, Sept. 15 -- The Gates Foundation plans to invest at least $1 billion over the next two years to expand access to artificial intelligence (AI), as co-founder Bill Gates warns that the rapid adoption of AI could widen the economic gap between rich and poor nations.

Gates said AI has the potential to make essential knowledge, opportunities and solutions more widely available if the technology is developed and deployed responsibly.

"AI, if shaped well, could expand who has access to solutions, opportunities, and knowledge that has too often been out of reach," Gates wrote in a report. "The decisions made in the next 12 to 18 months - about how AI is built, funded, and deployed - will determine whether this technology primarily be...