Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates believes that if humans can endure about 20 years of adjustment, AI will eventually bring a more optimistic future. On the 27th, during an interview with NBC's "Meet the Press," he divided the development of AI into two stages.
The first stage is the adjustment period, and the second stage is the 'age of abundance.'
Gates said that humanity is currently entering the first stage: AI has the potential to solve issues such as rising living costs and expensive healthcare, but it is not yet capable of truly solving these problems. "AI will change the job market, and without appropriate safeguards, it could also give criminals greater capabilities. Therefore, we are likely to experience a 20-year adjustment period."
Only in the second stage will humans truly benefit from AI. "Once we get through this stage, humanoid robots combined with AI will be able to provide many things, such as building houses and growing food, and this period can then be called the 'age of abundance.' "Gates admitted that there will still be new issues for humanity to face at that time — how to find meaning in life and how to manage suddenly increased leisure time, but large-scale shortages of material resources will no longer trouble humans. He emphasized, "What that era will look like is something for the younger generation to find out." For him, what matters more is "whether we can get through this turbulent period with minimal losses."
Powerful enough to cause the death of 1 billion people, safety barriers must be mandatory
Gates has always advocated for setting safety barriers for AI and has repeatedly expressed concerns about its abuse. In the interview, he pointed out that AI's capabilities are powerful enough to "cause events that lead to the deaths of 1 billion people." "Law enforcement agencies and political figures must participate in the discussion to determine what safety protections and monitoring mechanisms should look like. These measures must be mandatory, although they may add some additional costs to the AI industry, they will not significantly slow down the development of the entire industry."
