Bill Gates warns ‘there is no plan’ for AI transition
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One of the world’s greatest tech innovators just rang one of the loudest AI alarms yet. “AI will either be the greatest equalizer ever invented, or the worst source of injustice,” Bill Gates wrote in an essay yesterday, saying he doesn’t “see evidence that leaders, experts, and communities are confronting the challenges adequately. There is no plan to ease the entry into the AI era.”
“We need time to prepare for the social, political, and economic upheaval,” the Microsoft co-founder and former AI optimist wrote in the nearly 6,000-word essay. According to Gates:
- The threat that AI and robotics present to blue- and white-collar jobs isn’t comparable to previous technological transitions, which happened over generations and resulted in tech that required—not replaced—human cognition.
- “This would be the worst possible time for humans to lose their critical thinking skills,” Gates wrote, referencing the rise of deepfakes and chatbot sycophancy alongside AI’s burgeoning capabilities for cyberattacks and bioterrorism.
What do we do? Gates urged governments to impose taxes on AI tokens and bots, set aside certain jobs for humans, and cooperate internationally on regulation—especially the US and China.
Tea: “I don’t really know anybody who’s not concerned,” Gates told Axios, saying that many of the largest tech companies are privately worried about what they might create.