Bill Gates has called for “human-reserved” jobs in certain sectors to prevent AI replacing them, and expressed concern that governments are not prepared for the impact the technology will have.
In a 6,000 word essay titled The turbulent AI era is here. The choices we make are critical, the billionaire Microsoft co-founder likened the need to spare roles from digital encroachment to how nature reserves operate to protect the environment.
“Many jobs will disappear forever,” he said, in his first lengthy piece on AI in three years. “I believe that as AI and robots improve, we’ll set aside certain things for only people to do.
“I’ve started calling this domain human reserved. I like the phrase human reserved because it makes me think of nature reserves – places where we could put buildings and roads, but we choose not to because the loss would be too great.”
He cited examples including the health professionals who cared for his father, who died of Alzheimer’s disease six years ago.
“Something in the care they gave my dad was irreplaceably human, no robot could or should have done it,” he said. “Imagine a robot giving you the awful news that you have an incurable disease. There’s no technical reason why it couldn’t. Yet it shouldn’t.”
Wednesday’s essay is one of Gates’s first major public interventions since he became embroiled in the Jeffrey Epstein scandal. An external review commissioned by the Gates Foundation found last month that there had been about 30 meetings between Epstein and foundation leaders and staff – including Gates – between 2011 and 2014.
Gates, who has not been accused of involvement in Epstein’s crimes, remains the chair of his $89bn (£65bn) charitable foundation and previously said he regretted “every minute” he spent with the sex offender.
Gates warns in his essay that governments are not prepared for the scale of the impact of AI.
“The highest priority is a monumental task: creating a domestic and international framework for dealing with AI,” he wrote. “After the attacks of 9/11 the US government went through its biggest reorganisation since World War II for the purpose of improving just one function, national security.
“AI will require much, much more. It will affect national security as well as employment, education, taxation, energy, elections, air and water, public health, the financial system, law enforcement, transportation, public lands and IT systems.
“It is fair to wonder whether the world’s institutions are up to the task of designing and implementing this new architecture.”
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Gates also said that as part of a global effort “some cooperation between the US and China will be required”.
His staff are working to set up a meeting with China’s president, Xi Jinping, in November to discuss global efforts to mitigate the growing risks posed by AI.
Gates last met Xi three years ago, when he became the first foreign entrepreneur the Chinese president had hosted since the global Covid pandemic.
The tech billionaire also expressed concern in his essay about the impact of AI on education.
“Ironically, the same tool that will allow people to learn more than ever could also lead to many people learning less,” he wrote. “One preliminary survey suggested that heavier AI use was associated with less critical thinking. The effect was stronger for young people.”
