AI is cheaper than workers. Bill Gates wants to change that
Haven’t we heard all this before?
To be fair, I don’t think the legendary Microsoft co-founder — who, famously, was late to the internet revolution — just realized that AI could be a problem. If anything, he seems less alarmed by the threat of AI itself (and make no mistake, Gates sounds very alarmed by AI) than he is appalled by the laissez-faire, “let the market sort it out” attitude of those in a position to actually do something.
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Gates’s AI manifesto gets more interesting once he arrives at his proposals, even if the first — a category of “just for humans” jobs that he dubbed “Human Reserved” — sounds more like a rhetorical talking point than an actionable plan.
The idea of uniquely human jobs, including roles such as caretakers and teacher, is a laudable one. But as Gates himself asks, who precisely would be in charge of labeling specific jobs as Human Reserved, and who would enforce it? And let’s face it: The very idea of “Human Reserved” jobs is more than a little dystopian and creepy (or maybe it’s just a sign of the times).
But Gates’s other proposal is far more concrete, albeit certain to be controversial: taxes.
Specifically, we’re talking a tax on AI tokens and robots, and it’s not a new idea. Basically, businesses would need to pay taxes on every AI token they use, adding a new element to the equation when it comes to employers deploying AI in the workplace, and whether to replace human jobs in the process.
