Bill Gates says AI could make human labour unnecessary, and some may opt to live 'like the Amish'
· Toronto Sun
Bill Gates is warning that artificial intelligence could bring 20 years of upheaval before humanity gets to enjoy its promised benefits. And even then, he believes some people may decide they’d rather live without the latest technology — much like the Amish.
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“My big concern is this 20-year transition period, where they’ll have winners and losers and a lot of disruption,” the 70-year-old Microsoft co-founder said on a recent episode of The Verge’s Decoder podcast . He believes society must get through that turbulent phase before reaching a “period of abundance.”
That warning comes as Microsoft, where Gates served as CEO until 2000, announced Monday, Oct. 26, that it was offering voluntary buyouts to about 60,000 employees — roughly a quarter of its workforce — as it cuts costs while investing heavily in AI .
The offer is open to eligible employees at vice-president level and below in select teams across the U.S., Canada, India and Britain, a Microsoft spokesperson told AFP . Some workers, including certain employees in data centres, sales and marketing, are excluded.
Microsoft’s voluntary buyout timing highlights growing concern
AI could create enormous wealth while leaving plenty of people wondering what happened to their jobs.
Gates believes governments, not tech companies, must take responsibility for regulating the technology, especially as competition heats up.
“Once you have multiple competitors, the level of responsibility can’t be with the companies. It’s completely obvious,” he told Decoder host Nilay Patel.
Governments already regulate dangerous industries, he argued, and AI poses risks on a much greater scale. One major concern is bioterrorism, with Gates warning that the technology could give people the ability to cause serious harm that was once beyond their reach.
AI is also capable of doing good things
Still, he sees AI as a powerful tool that could transform society for the better. The problem is that its reach won’t stop at one industry or a handful of office jobs.
“If this was just a machine that could work in medicine or just in law or just in education, that alone would be incredibly disruptive,” Gates said. He believes AI will inevitably affect every kind of work, including blue-collar jobs, as humanoid robots become more capable.
Without major limits on its development, robots could build houses, grow food and perform surgery. Gates warned that human labour could become unnecessary for producing most goods and services.
AI raises a difficult question
What happens when people are no longer needed to do the work that keeps the economy running?
Gates believes some activities may remain human by choice, even if AI can do them better. Childcare, sports, food preparation and art are among the fields people might prefer to keep for themselves.
Others may choose to step away from advanced technology altogether.
“We’re going to have real choices. We have had groups — not large groups, but like the Amish — who don’t live at the technology frontier,” Gates said. He believes many others may eventually make a similar choice to preserve human connection and creativity.
Gates has repeatedly warned about AI’s darker side. In an Oct. 11 CNN interview with Jake Tapper, he cautioned that “bad people” could use the technology to disrupt financial systems, extort businesses and launch sophisticated cyberattacks.
Others in the industry are raising similar concerns. Anthropic researcher Jacob Coxon quit his role on Sept. 8, warning, per PEOPLE , that companies were racing toward superintelligence without adequate safety plans and that AI could “kill us all.”
Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei has also called for a coordinated slowdown in AI development, earning public support from OpenAI CEO Sam Altman , Elon Musk and Google DeepMind chief Demis Hassabis, AFP reports .