WASHINGTON: Bill Gates warned on Aug 26 that the world is dangerously unprepared for the upheaval brought by artificial intelligence (AI), with the technology destroying jobs and threatening human connection, especially for young people.
In a nearly 6,000-word essay published on his blog, the Microsoft co-founder said the shift into the AI era will rank among the most turbulent periods in human history and that no one has produced a credible plan for managing it.
His stance will draw significant pushback from many in Silicon Valley and the Trump administration who blame "doomer" attitudes among some tech leaders for giving the AI revolution a bad reputation.
"AI will either be the greatest equaliser ever invented, or the worst source of injustice," wrote Gates, 70, who now chairs the philanthropic foundation that bears his name.
"There is no plan to ease the entry into the AI era," Gates said, adding that he would likely support one if it existed.
"However, I don't think that's going to happen. The geopolitical and economic incentives are pushing too hard to go full speed ahead," he warned.
Gates said he saw three main risks arising from the fast deployment of AI.
The first is permanent job destruction. Gates insisted comparisons to the shift from farm work to office work were misleading, as that transition unfolded over generations and created roles that still required human thinking.
AI can substitute for thinking itself, he warned, hitting law, medicine, customer service, software and manufacturing within roughly a decade.
Entry- and mid-level positions are the most exposed, Gates said, leaving young people entering a labour market with far fewer openings.
Blue-collar work will follow as robots become cheaper, with the construction and hospitality sectors feeling pressure by the end of the decade.
Gates suggested that some jobs should be set aside for humans, even if AI can do them better and more cheaply.
The second risk is that AI hands new capabilities to bad actors.
Gates said cybersecurity specialists he knows are alarmed that attackers are gaining ground faster than defenders can patch weaknesses.
Hospitals, banks, water systems and power grids are all exposed, he said.
The third area of risk concerns children and human relationships.
Citing research, Gates said AI chatbots that never challenge or frustrate users risk becoming addictive and denying people the chance to build social skills.
AI bots "rob us of the lessons we learn from connecting with other people," he wrote.
Gates acknowledged he retains deep financial ties to the technology industry, saying investment profits will flow to his foundation, which plans to spend its remaining US$200bil (RM805.4bil) over the next two decades.
The essay comes months after Gates was interviewed by the House Oversight Committee over his ties to the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, telling lawmakers in June that the association was "a grave error in judgment."
