ITHome News from October 15: According to a report by Vatican News this week, Microsoft founder Bill Gates discussed the potential dangers of AI growth and explained that AI is a field that cannot regulate itself, so it must be guided by governments, and action must be taken to seize the opportunities that AI brings in healthcare, education, and agriculture.
Bill Gates said that we are not paying enough attention to the risks of AI, nor are we doing our best to minimize harm. We also have not done enough work to fully take advantage of current AI opportunities: AI can enable rural doctors to use smartphones as ultrasound machines, provide students with personalized tutoring based on their actual learning styles, and offer farmers tailored advice based on their soil and climate.
He stated that none of this happens automatically, and if the market is left to develop on its own,The most powerful tools will be used first by those who pay the most, rather than those most in need. "This is why we are committing one billion dollars over the next two years to drive the use of AI in health, education and agriculture, where market forces will be the last to reach it. Risks and opportunities are advancing at the same pace, and we must act on both at the same time."
Bill Gates also stated that AI is unlike any technology humanity has seen before. In the past, innovations like the personal computer or the internet followed a pattern in which there was major disruption at first, but things eventually worked out and people ended up with better tools. AI is different; it is more like an evolutionary event — we have created an intelligence that is comparable to human cognition in many ways, and in some ways even surpasses it.Regarding it as 'the next personal computer' would cause people to completely underestimate it。
Bill Gates believes AI can be divided into two distinct periods. Currently, we are in a transition period: while we do not yet have large-scale benefits in every respect, it has indeed brought real disruption. This period requires changes in many areas, including how we treat labor and taxation, which jobs we deliberately preserve for humans, and how we ensure the technology truly benefits those who can benefit most, rather than only those who can pay the most money.
Once the transition is over, if we get the guardrails and right of passage properly arranged, we will be able to see a truly abundant world: AI and humanoid robots will be able to handle food, shelter, and other basic necessities of life, and that era will raise entirely different questions about meaning and how people spend their time.
Bill Gates has said that the focus now is on getting humanity through the coming years, avoiding catastrophic bioterrorist attacks or cybersecurity incidents, and ensuring that large parts of the job market or vast regions of the world are not left behind.
Bill Gates also believes AI is a more dangerous technology than nuclear weapons, and could be more beneficial than nuclear energy. He believes that adding basic safety checks would hardly slow the pace of AI development, while greatly reducing risk — a trade-off worth making. What he worries about is that governments may not take this seriously until after a serious cyberattack or a serious bioterrorism incident has occurred.
Separately, according to CNN, Bill Gates predicted thatthe rapid development of AI technology will bring numerous cybersecurity threats in 2027, and he believes that AI-driven cyberattacks will be one of the areas experiencing the most significant changes next year.
However, he also stated thatAI going out of control is not yet humanity's most pressing problem. He said the technology still needs several more years of development before it can have a large-scale impact on the world.