On March 21, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates shared his thoughts on artificial intelligence (AI) in a seven-page blog post. He described AI as one of the two most revolutionary technologies he has witnessed, the other being graphical user interface.
This comes at a time when Microsoft and its investee company OpenAI have become the talk of the Silicon Valley and rest of the world. OpenAI is known for developing generative AI technologies like ChatGPT and its recent version GPT-4.
Gates highlighted the potential of AI to improve access to education, and healthcare, and address climate change to bring more equity to society. In the health sector, Gates predicted that AI could help healthcare workers make the most of their time by taking care of tasks such as filing insurance claims and drafting notes from a doctor's visit.
For education, AI could personalize course content for students depending on their learning speeds and abilities.
Gates acknowledged that humans are still better than GPT (Generative Pre-trained Transformer) at many tasks, but he cited tasks done by salespersons, service personnel, or document handlers as examples where GPT's capabilities could be useful.
He believes that as computing power gets cheaper, GPT's ability to express ideas will increasingly be like having a white-collar worker available to help with various tasks.
Gates also highlighted certain risks associated with AI, such as AI not having enough context or giving wrong answers to math problems.
However, he believes that most of these issues can be fixed in less than two years. Gates praised OpenAI, stating that he was impressed with the team's ability to train an AI to pass an Advanced Placement biology exam. He expected the team to take 2-3 years to achieve this, but they accomplished it in just a few months.
In September 2022, GPT scored 59 out of 60 on the multiple-choice AP Bio test and wrote "outstanding answers" to six open-ended questions from the exam.
Gates believes that AI will change the way people work, learn, travel, get healthcare, and communicate with each other. Entire industries will reorient around it, and businesses will distinguish themselves by how well they use it.
Gates is excited about the impact that AI will have on issues that the Gates Foundation works on, and he expects the foundation to have much more to say about AI in the coming months.
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