Bill Gates Worries AI Will Take His Job, Says Machine Could Say, 'Bill, Go Play Pickleball, I've Got Malaria Eradication'

In a recent episode of Bill Gates‘s podcast “Unconfuse Me with Bill Gates,” the tech magnate and founder of Microsoft Inc. hosted OpenAI CEO Sam Altman for a deep dive into the current state and future of artificial intelligence (AI). 

Gates, initially skeptical of AI’s rapid advancements, expressed astonishment at how sophisticated AI models like ChatGPT have become, acknowledging his lack of understanding about how these models encode complex information such as Shakespearean texts. 

"I was very skeptical. I didn't expect ChatGPT to get so good," Gates said. 

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Altman assured listeners that the intricacies of AI encoding and operations would eventually be unraveled, highlighting ongoing efforts in interpretability research. He drew parallels between the elusive nature of understanding human brain function and the challenges of fully grasping AI’s internal workings. 

Despite the vast scale of these models, Altman is optimistic about achieving a deeper comprehension over time, which he believes will significantly enhance their development and application. But apparently, there's still a lot of mystery around this, as even Altman admits that when they built GPT-1, they had "no deep understanding of how it worked or why it worked." 

A focal point of their discussion was the anticipated advancements in AI, including multimodality (integrating inputs and outputs across different formats like text, image and video) and improvements in reasoning and reliability. Altman emphasized the importance of personalization and using individual data to tailor AI interactions, which he sees as critical for the technology’s evolution.

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Gates and Altman also explored the necessity of adaptive computing, where AI allocates computational resources based on the complexity of the task at hand, rather than uniformly across all processes. This approach is seen as essential for tackling more complex problems and advancing AI’s problem-solving capabilities.

The conversation shifted to the societal and regulatory implications of AI, with Altman suggesting a cautious but proactive approach to governance. He proposed the idea of a global regulatory body akin to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to oversee the development and deployment of highly powerful AI systems, highlighting the importance of international cooperation in managing the technology’s potential impact on society and geopolitics.

Gates and Altman also touched on AI’s potential to address significant challenges, from productivity improvements to solving complex social issues. Altman shared his optimism for AI’s ability to transform industries such as coding, healthcare and education, while Gates pondered the philosophical and existential questions posed by advanced AI capabilities.

Gates expressed concerns about the downsides of advanced artificial intelligence, such as taking people’s jobs, including his own. 

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"I get a lot of excitement that, hey, I'm good at working on malaria, and malaria eradication, and getting smart people and applying resources to that," he said. "When the machine says to me, ‘Bill, go play pickleball, I've got malaria eradication. You're just a slow thinker,' then it is a philosophically confusing thing." 

Gates also expressed concerns and risks associated with bad actors getting their hands on AI, while Altman noted that AI will impact the "geopolitical balance of power." 

The episode concluded with a personal touch, as Altman shared his appreciation for “Recomposed by Max Richter: Vivaldi, The Four Seasons,” a piece of music that resonates with his experience in the early days of OpenAI. This thoughtful exchange underscored the broader theme of their discussion: the interplay between human creativity, technological innovation and the ongoing journey to understand and shape the future of AI.