Bill Gates calls for ban on AI taking some human jobs

Microsoft founder Bill Gates has spoken out about the use of artificial intelligence and called for robots and AI to be banned from taking certain jobs from human beings.

Gates said that certain parts of the job market should be labelled as ‘human reserved’ to keep workers from being replaced by AI, or because humans are simply better at those tasks. He suggested that fields such as teaching, medicine, and social care could be protected in this way. He used the analogy with nature reserved, where developments could be built but we choose not to in order to allow nature to thrive.

In a nearly 6,000 word essay, Gates argued that action is needed “before unemployment rises sharply” and said that the issue is too important to leave to tech companies to work out. He also called for businesses to be taxed on their use of robots and artificial intelligence, much like humans are taxed as employees. He said that this proposal would “slow the rush away from human labour a little and raise money for retraining and a stronger safety net”.

“Even under the best circumstances, the transition to this new AI era will be one of the most turbulent times in human history,” he said. “Unfortunately ... I don’t see evidence that leaders, experts and communities are confronting the challenges adequately.”

Gates argued that artificial intelligence could be eventually phased into some areas reserved for humans, but that some areas – such as education and mental health care – should remain “a mix, with a human in charge who’s using the technology to extend what they can do”.

“We have to think now about how to reduce job losses so that everyone can share in the prosperity that AI creates,” Gates wrote in his essay. “In terms of equity, AI will either be the greatest equalizer ever invented, or the worst source of injustice,” he continued. “The challenge is monumental.”