In brief: Bill Gates has an ominous warning for young people: there are four or five "very scary" things that they should be afraid of. In addition to the persistent fear of nuclear war, the Microsoft founder says unchecked AI is also a threat.
In an interview with Patrick Collinson, Gates said the only thing he really worried about a lot when he was younger was nuclear war.
While that particular concern hasn't disappeared, Gates says younger generations now have extra threats to society that they must live with: climate change, bioterrorism or another pandemic, and maintaining control of advanced AI.
There have been plenty of previous warnings about AI advancing too quickly, reaching a point where it becomes smarter than humans and decides the world would be better off without us in it.
A survey in 2023 found that two-thirds of Americans believed AI could threaten civilization, and Professor Geoffrey Hinton, one of the godfathers of AI, believes there could be an AI that presents an extinction-level event in five to twenty years. Hinton left Google in 2023 due to concerns that AI was advancing faster than expected and could become uncontrollable.
Gates isn't anti-AI, though. He believes that the technology could be used for good, such as filling skill gaps.
"We don't have as many medical experts, you know, people who can stay on top of everything, or people who can do math tutoring in the inner city," Gates said. "And we have a shortage of intelligence, and so we use this market system to kind of allocate it. AI, over time – and people can argue about the time frames – will make intelligence essentially free."
It might sound as if Gates is painting a pessimistic view for young people, but provided the highlighted risks are avoided, he thinks their future is going to be bright. The billionaire believes obesity, Alzheimer's, HIV, polio, measles, and malaria will all be addressed or wiped out completely. "The pace of innovation is greater today than ever," Gates said.
Gates also believes the fear of the world-ending threats he named will spur the younger generation into making sure they never happen.
"They'll actually, to some degree, exaggerate the likelihood and maybe the impact of some of those things in order to activate people to make sure we steer clear of those things," he said.
Gates has given his opinion on some non-existential threats this month. He recently said that Intel had lost its way and fallen behind in chip design and fabrication, though he had some good things to say about former CEO Pat Gelsinger.
H/t: Business Insider
Bill Gates warns young people of four major global threats, including AI
