Bill Gates backs AI but warns of job loss and inequality

AI is a structural challenge to the way our economy is organized, and it requires thinking and action now.” · Gates warned that AI is creating new cybersecurity risks and threatens to replace human relationships.

The rapid advances in AI mean policymakers, legislators and other decision makers must act now to develop a framework to address potential disruption from the technology. "I believe we need time to prepare for the period of social, political and economic upheaval we are about to enter," Gates said.

Bill Gates, the billionaire co-founder of Microsoft, is loudly warning that artificial intelligence poses a grave threat to jobs and human life, and that urgently addressing the risks should be “the world’s top priority.”

Bill Gates has called for “human-reserved” jobs in certain sectors to prevent AI replacing them, and expressed concern that governments are not prepared for the impact the technology will have.

But even white-collar jobs seen as less vulnerable to AI will soon be at risk, Gates warned, including “things like assessing loan applications, doing data analysis, and even triaging patients.” · “We have to think now about how to reduce job losses so that everyone can share in the prosperity that AI creates,” he wrote. “Waiting until people are already displaced or underemployed will be too late.

The 70-year-old Gates issued an urgent warning in the nearly 6,000-word essay published Wednesday on his personal website. He predicts massive unemployment and economic turmoil, and spells out the consequences of AI falling into the hands of criminals if U.S. and global leaders do not immediately work together to address the dark side of the technology. Bill Gates speaks onstage at the Bloomberg Philanthropies Global Forum 2025, September 24, 2025, in New York City.

SAN FRANCISCO — Bill Gates is looking to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping later this year, eager to propose global efforts to mitigate the growing risks posed by artificial intelligence. The Microsoft co-founder and billionaire philanthropist told Reuters in an interview that he believes China might agree to restricting potentially dangerous AI model releases if the U.S.

Bill Gates believes that AI will bring about a rapid, disruptive change in the job market. He emphasizes that AI is unique in its ability to automate cognitive functions, which could result in substantial job displacement unlike past industrial revolutions.

Bill Gates says the world is not ready for the era of artificial intelligence, which he warns “will be one of the most turbulent times in human history."