AI to radically transform jobs, healthcare, education – Bill Gates
“AI” or artificial intelligence has become a catchall term to describe any advancements in computing, systems and technology in which computer programs can perform tasks or solve problems that require the kind of reason we associate with human intelligence, even learning from past processes.
But what is AI? A straightforward definition from Britannica states that artificial intelligence is “the ability of a digital computer or computer-controlled robot to perform tasks commonly associated with intelligent beings.”
In reality, AI is already at work all around us, impacting everything from our search results, to our online dating prospects, to the way we shop. Data shows that the use of AI in many sectors of business has grown by 270% over the last four years.
Bill Gates thinks AI is “revolutionary”
Microsoft cofounder Bill Gates recently published a six-page blog post outlining his predictions for the future impact of the technology on healthcare, education, and the workforce.
Gates said in his blog post that 2023 marked the first time he’d used AI at work or for “serious reasons.” Compared to previous years, the world has a better sense of what jobs AI will be able to do itself and “which ones it will serve as a copilot for,” Gates said.
Numerous studies conducted this year have tried to pinpoint which skills and sectors would be the most impacted by advanced AI. There’s already evidence that using the tech as a copilot at work can help employees get ahead. Several companies have developed internal AI tools to boost employees while others encourage workers to use publically available technology.
Gates also laid out several medical questions that scientists around the world were trying to use AI to answer. He said the work was ambitious and in an early stage of development. Gates believed that most of it wouldn’t emerge in the next year and some may not leave the lab at all. He said the work was setting the stage “for a massive technology boom later this decade.”
A few of the projects Gates namechecked were attempting to use AI to combat antibiotic resistance, treat high-risk pregnancies, and help people assess their risk for HIV. Gates’s nonprofit, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, which he runs with his ex-wife, has donated billions of dollars to medical research worldwide. The foundation’s work has particularly focused on researching, developing, and delivering vaccines to the world’s poorest countries.
Gates previously predicted that AI could transform education in the next five to 10 years by delivering content tailored to a student’s learning style. He suggested AI could engage students by learning what motivates them and what causes them to lose interest in subjects. While he said teachers likely wouldn’t become redundant, they may need to adapt to the new technology. In his most recent post, Gates called the AI education tools being piloted today “mind-blowing.”
