Bill Gates warns AI could permanently displace jobs and urges AI/robot taxes and regulation

Bill Gates has published a memo proposing a tax on AI, a category of jobs reserved for humans and new institutions to manage the transition, and told GeekWire that industry leaders are worried privately while staying quiet publicly. He proposed a robot tax in February 2017, the same month the European Parliament adopted robotics rules […] This story continues at The Next Web

"Most Jobs Will Disappear Forever": Bill Gates Calls For Taxes On AI And Robots To Protect Jobs For Humans Authored by Tom Gantert via The Epoch Times, Microsoft cofounder Bill Gates warned Wednesday that artificial intelligence (AI) will permanently eliminate many white- and blue-collar jobs and called for taxes on AI and robots along with protections reserving certain jobs for humans. Bill Gates in Sun Valley, Idaho, on July 9, 2026. Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images "Many jobs will disappear forever," Gates wrote in an essay published on his Gates Notes website. He said AI could become "the greatest equalizer ever invented" or "the worst source of injustice," and governments are not adequately preparing for the disruption. Gates said comparisons between AI and earlier technological changes are misleading. The shift from agricultural to office work occurred over generations and created jobs requiring human thought. AI now can replace human cognition and can operate through devices and systems already in use. AI will affect law, customer service, medicine, software, and manufacturing over roughly a decade, Gates predicted. Entry- and mid-level positions face the greatest immediate danger, while robots will eventually threaten construction, hospitality, and other physical jobs. Gates proposed creating a category called "Human Reserved" for work that society decides should continue to be performed by people even when machines become capable of doing it. Examples could include delivering a terminal medical diagnosis, education, and mental health care, although Gates acknowledged that governments would face difficult decisions about which jobs to protect. Gates also proposed taxing AI tokens and robots. Employers pay payroll taxes when they hire workers but can often deduct robots as business expenses, creating an incentive to replace labor, he said. A tax could slow that process and provide revenue for retraining displaced workers and strengthening the social safety net. Gates also said AI could make fraud, cyberattacks, bioterrorism, surveillance, and disinformation easier. He expressed particular concern about children forming relationships with AI companions and relying on the technology in ways that weaken critical-thinking skills. Despite those dangers, Gates said AI could accelerate medical research, improve diagnoses, expand educational opportunities, and help address problems involving agriculture, energy, and climate change. He called for new national and international institutions to manage AI's effects, saying cooperation between the United States and China will be necessary. "This unprecedented technology demands an unprecedented global response," Gates wrote. U.S. Rep. Greg Casar (D-Texas) supported the idea of taxing AI. "Even tech billionaires like Bill Gates are saying we need an AI token tax to prevent mass unemployment," Casar posted on X on Wednesday. "I introduced the first and only bill in Congress to do it." The Cato Institute's Adam Michel pushed back in June on some of Gates's ideas, including taxing the robots that replace jobs done by humans. "Empirical research consistently finds that investment in new technologies is complementary, primarily augmenting, not replacing, work," Michel wrote in an article. "For workers to succeed in an AI economy, they will need more investment in newer and better tools, not less. Taxing the capital behind those tools would slow the very process that can raise wages and expand opportunity." Pedro Domingos, a professor emeritus of computer science and engineering at the University of Washington, compared Gates to Dario Amodei in a post on X on Wednesday. Amodei, an AI entrepreneur and CEO of Anthropic in Silicon Valley, has been labeled a "doomsayer" on AI and unemployment by the media. "Training AI to imitate humans is not the path to superintelligence," Domingos posted on X. University of Washington professor emeritus Oren Etzioni said in a post he wrote for GeekWire that Gates correctly identified AI-driven job displacement but his solutions were "mostly wrong." Etzioni supports a tax on AI but said a proposed tax on tokens would only increase the cost of American AI and send consumers to cheaper versions made by China. Etzioni said AI isn't causing layoffs; it is causing jobs to never be posted. Etzioni's solution is to encourage AI literacy and move displaced workers into the caregiving industry. Tyler Durden Thu, 08/27/2026 - 17:40

Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates has sounded a stark warning about the rise of artificial intelligence, describing it as one of the most turbulent transitions in human history.In a lengthy essay titled “The Turbulent AI Era Is Here. The Choices We Make Now Are Critical” published on his Gates Notes blog, Gates cautioned that governments and societies are not adequately preparing for the sweeping disruptions AI will bring.He stressed that AI could either become a powerful tool for reducing inequality or deepen the divide between rich and poor, depending on how leaders respond.“AI will either be the greatest equalizer ever invented, or the worst source of injustice,” Gates wrote. “Even under the best circumstances, the transition to this new AI era will be one of the most turbulent times in human history.”Jobs at RiskGates warned that many jobs may disappear permanently, particularly entry- and mid-level roles. While AI will create new opportunities, most will require advanced skills that take years to acquire.He noted that the disruption will not be limited to tech-related fields. Roles in sales, customer support, software engineering, paralegal work, loan assessment, data analysis, and even healthcare triage could be among the first affected.By the end of the decade, Gates believes “smart robots” will begin competing with humans in industries such as construction and hospitality, accelerating job losses as companies seek to cut costs.“I’m especially worried about young people, who will enter a workforce with fewer entry-level openings,” he added.Risks Beyond EmploymentBeyond jobs, Gates warned that AI could also fuel cyberattacks, fraud, disinformation, deepfakes, surveillance, and bioterrorism, making critical infrastructure such as hospitals, financial institutions, and power grids more vulnerable.He also raised concerns about increasingly powerful AI systems behaving unpredictably, potentially acting against human interests.Potential BenefitsDespite the risks, Gates emphasized that AI could deliver enormous benefits if managed responsibly. He pointed to breakthroughs in healthcare, agriculture, education, clean energy, and government services, highlighting how AI could help farmers in low-income countries access better advice, improve crop yields, and expand access to medical care.“Taken together, the advances in all these areas could make everyday life easier, more affordable, and less constrained by a person’s income or connections,” Gates wrote.Call for Global ActionGates urged governments to create new national and international institutions to manage AI’s impact across sectors including employment, taxation, public health, and national security.“This unprecedented technology demands an unprecedented global response,” he said. “If we get it right, the payoff for humanity will be phenomenal and the world will be a more equitable place.”

An anonymous reader quotes a report from CNN: Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates argued on Wednesday that artificial intelligence needs significant limits or else the harm to humans will outweigh any potential good. "AI will either be the greatest equalizer ever invented, or the worst source of injustice," he said in a 6,000-word essay, entitled "The turbulent AI era is here. The choices we make now are critical." [...] "Even under the best circumstances, the transition to this new AI era will be one of the most turbulent times in human history," he said, adding that "I don't see evidence that leaders, experts, and communities are confronting the challenges adequately. There is no plan to ease the entry into the AI era." AI can provide great benefits in field like agriculture and medicine, he argued, such as breakthroughs in preventing and treating diseases. But he also noted that the transition carries big risks, like widespread unemployment, harming the educational and social development of children, or making it easier for criminals and bad actors -- or AI itself -- to cause deliberate harm. "As the models become more powerful, they could begin to act against our interests and we could lose control," he warned. These significant risks must be controlled quickly, Gates said. "If someone had a credible plan for slowing down AI advances globally, I would likely support it," he wrote. "However, I don't think that's going to happen. The geopolitical and economic incentives are pushing too hard to go full speed ahead." In an interview with CNN's Anderson Cooper that will air on Wednesday evening, Gates said AI models have gotten dramatically more powerful at a rate faster than he expected. "They're now capable of causing cyberattack risk, bioterrorism risk, psychosocial risk," he said. "I have to say I'm kind of shocked that the exact criteria that we review these models with, and the actions we take to minimize the harms, are really completely missing." In his essay, Gates proposed taxing AI or robots the way you would pay a human employee's payroll tax in order to slow the shift away from using human labor. He also wants to set aside some work to be done by humans only. "My message to leaders is: You have a chance to act now, before unemployment rises sharply, communities are hurting, and public trust has eroded," he said. "You can make sure AI benefits everyone. And you can work with other governments to meet this national and global challenge." Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Bill Gates warned on Wednesday that the world is dangerously unprepared for the upheaval brought by artificial intelligence, with the technology destroying jobs and threatening human connection, especially for young people. In a nearly 6,000-word essay published on his blog, the Microsoft co-founder said the shift into the AI era will rank among the most turbulent periods in human history and that no one has produced a credible plan for managing it. His stance will draw significant pushback from many in Silicon Valley and the Trump administration who blame “doomer” attitudes among some tech leaders for giving the AI revolution a bad reputation. “AI will either be the greatest equaliser ever invented, or the worst source of injustice,” wrote Gates, 70, who now chairs the philanthropic foundation that bears his name. “There is no plan to ease the entry into the AI era,” Gates said, adding that he would likely support one if it existed. “However, I don’t think that’s going to happen. The geopolitical and economic incentives are pushing too hard to go full speed ahead,” he warned. Gates said he saw three main risks arising from the fast deployment of AI. The first is permanent job destruction. Gates insisted comparisons to the shift from farm work to office work were misleading, as that transition unfolded over generations and created roles that still required human thinking. AI can substitute for thinking itself, he warned, hitting law, medicine, customer service, software and manufacturing within roughly a decade. Entry- and mid-level positions are the most exposed, Gates said, leaving young people entering a labour market with far fewer openings. Blue-collar work will follow as robots become cheaper, with the construction and hospitality sectors feeling pressure by the end of the decade. Gates suggested that some jobs should be set aside for humans, even if AI can do them better and more cheaply. The second risk is that AI hands new capabilities to bad actors. Gates said cybersecurity specialists he knows are alarmed that attackers are gaining ground faster than defenders can patch weaknesses. Hospitals, banks, water systems and power grids are all exposed, he said. The third area of risk concerns children and human relationships. Citing research, Gates said AI chatbots that never challenge or frustrate users risk becoming addictive and deny people the chance to build social skills. AI bots “rob us of the lessons we learn from connecting with other people,” he wrote. Gates acknowledged he retains deep financial ties to the technology industry, saying investment profits will flow to his foundation, which plans to spend its remaining $200 billion over the next two decades. The essay comes months after Gates was interviewed by the House Oversight Committee over his ties to the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, telling lawmakers in June that the association was “a grave error in judgment”.

Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates has called for some jobs to be kept exclusively for humans as artificial intelligence (AI) and robots become increasingly capable of replacing people at work.In a 6,000-word essay titled The Turbulent AI Era Is Here. The Choices We Make Are Critical, Gates also warned that governments are not prepared for the scale of AI's impact. He compared the idea of protecting certain jobs from automation with nature reserves, where development is deliberately restricted to prevent an unacceptable loss, Guardian reports.‘Many Jobs Will Disappear Forever’“Many jobs will disappear forever,” Gates 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.”Gates calls this area “human reserved”. He said the phrase reminded him of nature reserves, places where buildings and roads could be constructed but where people choose not to do so because “the loss would be too great”. Bill Gates warns that serious AI risks are already approaching He says AI could create unprecedented cyber and biological threats, disrupt the labor market, widen inequality and eventually become difficult to control. At the same time, Gates believes AI could become the… pic.twitter.com/8LLanl0n6M— Context 360 (@NewsContext360) August 26, 2026 His argument raises an important question as AI becomes more capable: just because a machine can perform a task, does that mean society should allow it to do so? Gates believes there are areas where human involvement has a value that technology cannot replace.He pointed to 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,” Gates 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.”Governments Face A Huge AI TestGates also warned that governments are not ready to deal with the changes AI could bring. He described the creation of domestic and international rules for AI as the highest priority.“The highest priority is a monumental task: creating a domestic and international framework for dealing with AI,” he wrote.Gates compared the challenge with the US government's reorganisation after the Sept 11 attacks. He said that effort focused largely on national security, while AI would affect a much wider range of areas.According to Gates, those areas include national security, employment, education, taxation, energy, elections, air and water, public health, the financial system, law enforcement, transportation, public lands and information technology systems.“It is fair to wonder whether the world’s institutions are up to the task of designing and implementing this new architecture,” he wrote.The warning underlines how the AI debate is no longer limited to technology companies. If Gates's assessment is right, governments will have to make decisions touching almost every part of public life while the technology itself continues to develop.US-China Cooperation Will Be NeededGates said a global response to AI would require “some cooperation between the US and China”.His staff are working to arrange a meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping in November to discuss global efforts to reduce the growing risks posed by AI.Gates last met Xi three years ago, when he became the first foreign entrepreneur hosted by the Chinese President since the global Covid pandemic.Meta Explored Upto 60 Per Cent Team Cuts In AI Overhaul Before Zuckerberg Pulled Back: ReportAI Could Help Students, Or Hold Them BackEducation is another area where Gates sees both promise and danger. While AI could give people powerful new ways to learn, he warned that relying too heavily on it could have the opposite effect.“Ironically, the same tool that will allow people to learn more than ever could also lead to many people learning less,” Gates wrote.He cited a preliminary survey suggesting that heavier use of AI was associated with less critical thinking, with a stronger effect among young people.The concern points to one of the central contradictions surrounding AI: technology that can make knowledge easier to access may also reduce the effort people put into thinking for themselves.Also Watch:Essay Comes After Epstein ScrutinyThe essay is one of Gates's first major public interventions since he became embroiled in scrutiny surrounding Jeffrey Epstein.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 has not been accused of involvement in Epstein's crimes. He remains chair of his $89 billion (£65 billion) charitable foundation and has previously said he regretted “every minute” he spent with Epstein, a convicted sex offender.Gates's essay ultimately presents AI as more than a technological challenge. His argument is that societies will have to decide not only what AI can do, but what it should be allowed to do, which human roles should be protected and whether governments can build rules quickly enough to manage a technology capable of reshaping work, education and public life.