According to Bill Gates, We Are Now In The Beginning of the Age of AI

The release of GPT-4 has convinced many that the future of the world has changed forever, with AI at the helm of this shift. Bill Gates, recognizing this, has written a report describing what he sees as the future of work and advancements alongside improving AI models. In his report titled “The Age of AI has Begun,” Gates focuses on AI in the future and how it will impact many facets of our lives.

As Gates states, the development of AI is as fundamental as the creation of the microprocessor, the personal computer, the Internet, and the mobile phone. He believes that AI will change the way people work, learn, travel, get health care, and communicate with each other. Entire industries will reorient around it, and businesses will distinguish themselves by how well they use it.

According to Gates, AI will be able to close the gap in education inequality and will dramatically change white collar jobs. Recently, it was added to Office 365, acting as “co-pilot,” and Gates believes that this kind of integration will become normal practice. AI will assist in mundane, time consuming tasks, which will hopefully result in increased productivity without additional cost. While many white collar workers are worried that AI will replace them, others believe that it will actually only be a tool that will aid them.

Furthermore, Gates believes that AI will massively help health, especially in developing countries. It can become a sort of AI doctor and speeding up laborious tasks in order to allow free health workers more time to work with patients directly. Just as DeepMind’s has been accomplishing advances in protein folding, the possibilities for more biological advancements using artificial intelligence are very exciting.

Gates also explains the downsides associated with using AI, such as its inability for abstract reasoning, sufficient decision-making, and the potential for it to get out of control, which seems to be many people’s worry. Another interesting and potentially very harmful quirk is that AI has a tendency to make up facts instead of answering that it does not actually know the answer to a question.

Gates biggest wish is for AI to continue to be used in a positive and even a philanthropic way. He hopes it can be used to improve the conditions of those in developing countries, which has been the focus of Gates’ philanthropic work for the last few decades.  While Gates is excited for the future potential of AI, he cautions that it should be used with great caution as well.

Gates believes that we may now be living through a period that will be read about in history books one day. Gates described jus two times when he felt that he was witnessing revolutionary technology. The first time was when he witnessed a modern GUI (graphical user interface) and the second time was when he challenged OpenAI to complete an AP biology exam and this was accomplished in just a few months.

Thanks to all of the developments, according to Gates, the world can come together and further help with the reduction of suffering and inequality around the globe. The caveat is to avoid using AI as a powerful tool of destruction by creating rules to prevent serious damage. Only time will tell what will happen.