Bill Gates is deeply worried about AI, and he’s no longer staying quiet

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Microsoft’s cofounder used to be optimistic about AI, now he’s concerned it could be ‘the worst source of injustice.’

Bill Gates has been reflecting a lot on AI lately, and the process has triggered a stark awakening. Once a staunch AI optimist, the Microsoft cofounder is now deeply pessimistic about what AI means for our collective future.

Having been conspicuously quiet on AI issues recently, Gates is back with a nearly 6,000-word essay seeking to reclaim a central role in shaping the technology globally. Titled “The turbulent AI era is here. The choices we make now are critical,” Gates warns the world is not remotely ready for what is coming. Worse still, he notes, “we are not preparing for it.”

Gates attempts to chart a path forward, but the essay largely treads familiar ground, identifying deeply entrenched, systemic hurdles familiar in matters of global governance while offering little in the way of novel solutions. The result is a bleak departure from the hopeful excitement about AI present in the billionaire’s 2023 essay on the matter , though Gates insists it is not too late “to ensure that the good outweighs the bad.”

“AI will either be the greatest equalizer ever invented, or the worst source of injustice,” Gates said, predicting that “the transition to this new AI era will be one of the most turbulent times in human history.” He said many people underestimate the scale of the impact due to “misleading” comparisons to past innovations like PCs and performance-related issues with current models that are “fixed quickly.”