Bill Gates is an American business magnate, software developer, investor, author, and philanthropist. He is a co-founder of Microsoft, along with his late childhood friend Paul Allen. In addition, he is one of the great characters who has contributed to the different debates that have appeared with the new events and scenarios that are happening with humanity. recently in his personal blog published a reflection called “AI risks are real but manageable”where he exposed various aspects in relation to artificial intelligence.
Gates begins with some concerns regarding these new technologies: “What happens to people who lose their jobs because of a smart machine? Could AI affect the results of an election? What if a future AI decides it doesn’t need humans anymore and wants to get rid of us?”
For the entrepreneur there is a logical reason to be able to deal with AI. This is because it is not the first time that a major innovation has introduced new threats that needed to be controlled, as humanity has done before.
“Shortly after the first cars were on the road, the first car accident occurred. But we don’t ban cars: we adopt speed limits, safety standards, licensing requirements, drunk driving laws and other traffic rules.”he pointed to as an example.
Bill acknowledges that artificial intelligence is advancing strongly. He assures that there will be people who use this great invention with good and bad intentions. Despite this, he points out that one issue must be taken into account: “AI will change us as a society and as individuals.”
Based on data that have shown that the technological tool has more beneficial than negative aspects, especially in issues such as health, education, climate change, the tycoon tries to reflect on the existing concerns that are frequent in people.
What are the manageable risks of AI according to the tycoon?
- Deep fakes and AI-generated misinformation could undermine elections and democracy.
- AI makes it easy to launch attacks against people and governments.
- AI will take jobs away from people.
- AI inherits our biases and makes things up.
- Students will not learn to write because the AI will do the work for them.
Regarding these risks, Bill Gates concluded that “There are more reasons to be optimistic that we can manage the risks of AI while maximizing its benefits. But we have to move fast.”
In addition, it calls on political leaders in all countries to make informed laws and regulations that respond to this new technology.
Similarly, he pointed out that AI companies must carry out their work in a safe and responsible manner.
“The benefits will be enormous and the best reason to believe that we can manage the risks is that we have done it before”he concluded.