Bill Gates: AI will experience 20 years of turmoil before creating true wealth

Phoenix Technology cites a report from Business Insider, stating that Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates mentioned in the latest episode of the "Decoder" podcast that artificial intelligence will create "true abundance," but the next 20 years will be as turbulent as any period in human history, with unprecedented job losses and chaos, resulting in winners and losers.

Gates indicated that jobs such as telemarketing, customer service, and accounting will disappear, as AI can perform these tasks more cheaply, quickly, and even more accurately; blue-collar jobs will be taken over by humanoid robots. If not significantly slowed down or stopped, robots capable of building houses, growing food, and performing surgeries will emerge, making human labor unnecessary for most goods and services. He believes that work provides a sense of purpose, income, a reason to attend, relationships with colleagues, and pathways for creativity and problem-solving, while activities such as art, sports, cooking, and parenting can be left to humans in the future.

The report also mentions that Jeff Bezos and Jamie Dimon have proposed shortening the workweek; Elon Musk has predicted that the transition will be "bumpy" and advocates for the government to issue checks to everyone; Dalio Amodi stated that AI is expected to improve quality of life, but the scale of short-term impacts will be unprecedented; Sam Altman mentioned in May of this year that the number of white-collar jobs eliminated by AI is not as high as he expected. Despite concerns that AI will replace jobs and high-profile layoffs at companies like Amazon and Meta, the unemployment rate in the U.S. has not significantly risen during the AI boom.