The tech mogul says past “mistakes” should not undermine his warnings on AI and global health
In a sweeping essay on the coming “turbulent AI era,” Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates has argued that the technology could become either “the greatest equalizer ever invented” or “the worst source of injustice,” warning that governments remain dangerously unprepared for the social and economic upheaval ahead.
The intervention comes with an acknowledged “potential bias,” as Gates himself concedes that he has “benefited enormously” from the tech industry, retains financial ties to the sector, and works with Microsoft and other AI companies through the Gates Foundation.
His association with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein is another source of reputational baggage that Gates addressed in an interview with Axios published on Wednesday, insisting people should judge him “on the record” rather than let the controversy overshadow his warnings on AI and global health.
Gates called the association a “huge mistake,” insisting his dealings with Epstein were limited and motivated by an attempt to raise money for philanthropic projects. He began meeting Epstein in 2011, despite knowing of his previous sex-crime conviction, and has said he cut ties in 2014 after the financier failed to deliver the promised access to wealthy donors. Gates has denied involvement in Epstein’s criminal activity and told Congress that Epstein later attempted to blackmail him over extramarital affairs.
“I made mistakes. I’ve changed,” Gates said. “I do think the record is clear, and people can just judge me on the record.”
Gates is now warning that AI could unleash disruption on an entirely different scale. Unlike previous technological revolutions, he argues, it can substitute directly for human cognition and rapidly replace workers across law, medicine, customer service, software and manufacturing. Without the right policies, he predicts, there will still be some new jobs, but “far fewer than exist today.”
He also warns that increasingly accessible AI could make cyberattacks and biological weapons easier for bad actors to develop, while autonomous weapons could give governments greater ability to use deadly force without human involvement. Surveillance and manipulation of public opinion would likewise become cheaper and more effective.
Eventually, Gates cautioned, the danger may come from the machines themselves: increasingly powerful systems “could begin to act against our interests and we could lose control.”
It is not the first time Gates has sounded the alarm about a looming global threat. In a widely viewed 2015 TED talk, he warned that the world was badly unprepared for the next major epidemic.
The Covid-19 pandemic later gave that warning an air of prescience, but Gates’ prominent involvement in global public-health policy turned him into a lightning rod for distrust. His past warnings and the Gates Foundation’s participation in a 2019 pandemic simulation were subsequently woven into numerous conspiracy theories claiming that he had planned the outbreak and intended to profit from vaccines. Gates himself described such accusations as “crazy” and “evil.”
This time, Gates argues there may be even less room to slow down. While saying he would support a credible international plan to restrain AI development, he concluded that “geopolitical and economic incentives are pushing too hard to go full speed ahead.”
