Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates warned that artificial intelligence is expanding at a pace that regulation cannot keep up with, and the world may first face some negative consequences before rules catch up. He stated that currently, there is no adequate preparation from governments, experts, and communities for the transition, nor is there a plan to mitigate the entry into the AI era.

In a nearly 6,000-word article on his personal website, he outlined three risks: a significant number of jobs will permanently disappear, with middle-class jobs being the first affected; AI will lower the skill threshold for committing fraud, deepfakes, cyberattacks, and even biological threats; and companion products may weaken children's social skills and critical thinking. He also noted that if left unchecked, systems may be designed according to the needs of the wealthiest groups.

Gates mentioned that he has opposed a simple halt for the past three years, but his stance has changed. Triggers include the crossing of boundaries by proxy programming tools into coding and cyberattack capabilities, with the industry having almost no corresponding responses. He told The New York Times that there is private concern within the industry, but publicly, there are reminders not to speak out to avoid affecting the next round of trillion-dollar funding. He stated that voluntary reviews lack clear thresholds and penalties, refusing to hand over the most dangerous tools to industry self-regulation.

Policy proposals include taxing tokens and robots to curb replacements, designating certain jobs as human-only, mandating reviews for systems that can be used to create new molecules, and promoting international standards similar to nuclear safety and aviation regulation. He has communicated with the U.S. presidential team and plans to seek a meeting with the Chinese president within the year. The Gates Foundation also announced plans to invest at least $1 billion over the next two years to expand the use and assessment of AI in impoverished areas.

He emphasized that geopolitical competition and economic incentives will continue to push countries and companies into a full-speed race, so even if he is willing to support a credible global slowdown plan, he does not believe it can be implemented. Customer service, software, and legal assistance will be cut first, while the construction and hotel industries may increasingly turn to robots within the next decade. He worries that once a backlash occurs, even the benefits in science and medicine will be swept away.

The market mechanism is narrative-driven rather than based on weekly pricing events. Sellers are laboratories and cloud vendors still financing based on computing power and model capabilities, while buyers are governments and foundations that need to externalize risks to taxpayers. Beneficiaries are leading companies that have secured enterprise distribution and data center orders, while those under pressure are entry-level white-collar workers and regulatory agencies that have not yet established review capabilities. Funding continues to flow into training and reasoning, while governance funding remains primarily through initiatives and charitable grants, with the two speeds being asymmetrical.

Source: Public Information