Bill Gates now predicts that artificial intelligence will be revolutionary for everyone within the next five years.
The emergence of AI raises concerns that the technology will eliminate millions of jobs throughout the world, with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) warning this week that approximately 40% of occupations worldwide may be affected by the rise of AI.
However, Bill Gates feels that history demonstrates that with each new technology, there is anxiety followed by opportunity.
“As we had [with] agricultural productivity in 1900, people were like ‘Hey, what are people going to do?’ In fact, a lot of new things, a lot of new job categories were created and we’re way better off than when everybody was doing farm work,” Gates said in an interview with CNN’s Fareed Zakaria on Tuesday.
“This will be like that.”
AI, according to Gates, will make everyone’s lives simpler, particularly by assisting doctors with their paperwork, which is “part of the job they don’t like, but we can make that very efficient.”
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Because there is no need for “much new hardware,” Gates stated that accessing AI will be via “the phone or PC you already have connected over the internet connection you already have.”
He also stated that the advancements with OpenAI’s ChatGPT-4 were “dramatic” because it can “essentially read and write,” making it “almost like having a white collar worker to be a tutor, to give health advice, to help write code, to assist with technical support calls.” He stated that integrating the technology into the education or medical sectors would be “fantastic.”
Microsoft has a multibillion-dollar collaboration with OpenAI. Gates is among Microsoft’s major stockholders.
“The goal of the Gates Foundation is to make sure that the delay between benefitting people in poor countries versus getting to rich countries will make that very short,” Gates told Zakaria at Davos for the World Economic Forum. “After all, the shortages of doctors and teachers is way more acute in Africa then it is in the West.”
According to Bloomberg’s Billionaires Index, Gates is worth $140 billion, ranking him fourth among the world’s richest people. However, if he had not committed to give away all of his money, he would most likely still be the world’s richest person.
“I have more than enough money for my own consumption,” Gates said when Zakaria asked how philanthropic efforts are going. “I’m getting myself to go down the list, and I’ll be proud when I fall off altogether.”
A Gentle Reminder: Every obstacle is a stepping stone, every morning; a chance to go again, and those little steps take you closer to your dream.
Nnamdi Okoli