Bill Gates brings his optimistic viewpoint as first guest editor in TIME magazine’s 94 years

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Bill Gates is a big-time reader, as we’ve previously noted. But this week we get to see what kind of editor the Microsoft co-founder is, as TIME invited him to be the first guest editor in the 94-year history of the magazine.

Gates has been featured on the cover of the magazine 10 times. His first crack at editing takes on a familiar subject for the billionaire philanthropist: optimism.

“On the whole, the world is getting better,” Gates writes in his editor’s letter. “This is not some naively optimistic view; it’s backed by data. Look at the number of children who die before their fifth birthday. Since 1990, that figure has been cut in half. That means 122 million children have been saved in a quarter- century, and countless families have been spared the heartbreak of losing a child.”

Gates’s choice for cover subject illustrates the above notion. Mohamad Nasir is a 5-year-old Ethiopian boy whom Gates met in 2012, and who, thanks to vaccinations against polio, measles, and more, represents worldwide milestones in early and ongoing health care.

Having a tech-savvy editor also means injecting some tech into the design, as the cover will feature augmented reality.

There are also feature stories on Gates and more of his views, including:

Gates invited some friends to share their views of what makes them optimistic — including Warren Buffett, Malala Yousafzai, Bono, Trevor Noah and more — as he says he hopes readers will be inspired to make the world even better. His wife, Melinda Gates, also has a piece in the magazine on how it’s time for a new era for women.

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