## Metadata - Author: [[Bill Gates]] - Full Title:: The Choices We Make About AI Now Are Critical | Bill Gates - Category:: #🗞️Articles - URL:: https://www.gatesnotes.com/work/make-ai-work-for-everyone/reader/a-turbulent-ai-era-and-critical-choices-to-make?WT.mc_id=20260826_ai-overture-2026-med-med - Read date:: [[2026-08-28]] ## Highlights > Even under the best circumstances, the transition to this new AI era will be one of the most turbulent times in human history. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01m13qa5z7cxqyyd4x2rdbbga2)) > AI, on the other hand, runs on the devices we already have, and it uses natural language. We don’t have to adapt to it because it can adapt to us. It can watch the same training video that is used to train human workers and learn from existing data. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01m13qbxq2757dvhv5zptw2t2r)) > Jobs in sales and customer support (online and over the phone), software engineering, and paralegal work may be among the first affected, but the disruption will reach much further as AI takes on tasks that today still require trained workers: things like assessing loan applications, doing data analysis, and even triaging patients. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01m13qgyad7e9d0r66h3rrjaws)) > How will an economy that’s been built around employment operate if fewer people are working, or if many people are working fewer hours? > In a capitalist society, employment is the way most people get the money they need to pay for the basics of life as well as being a key source of dignity and social connection. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01m13qjr1966pcdwm5ajx2hvfe)) > It took hard work and a lot of help from my mom to develop my social skills so I could relate to different kinds of people. I still draw on those lessons today at the age of 70. > I doubt I would have put in the same work if I had had an AI companion back then. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01m13qn6txas3na8413fv5hk4m)) > there are signs that we should be very concerned. For example, in one [study](https://arxiv.org/abs/2506.12605) of more than 1,100 people who use AI companions, researchers at Stanford and Carnegie Mellon found that those with smaller social networks were the most likely to turn to a chatbot for companionship. And the heavier and more emotionally personal that use became, the worse they felt. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01m13qne8rcvxncv5b6yz94eqj)) > These sectors overlap in ways our existing bureaucracy is not designed to manage. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01m148kdwcxnnx65a0kffk5yd1)) > Left to themselves, institutions will see only one part of the system, while the consequences of AI will ripple across the entire system. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01m148kg6qkj0r77twgswh12h4)) > even a country that gets its own house in order will still be exposed to risks that cross borders. This is why an international organization will need to be built in parallel. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01m148kwas5s27c4w9wnbhhwb7)) > workers are pushed into different jobs, they will need retraining and other support from the social safety net. But they will be working less, which means they will be paying less in income taxes, and government revenues will drop just when the demand for those services is greatest. The funds will have to come from somewhere at a time when budgets are stretched. > I believe we should tax AI [tokens](https://blogs.nvidia.com/blog/ai-tokens-explained/) and robots. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01m148qcfdmcdh1bnbwdktp901))