Is AI moving too fast? Many techies say a resounding ‘yes.’ No longer waxing poetic about AI, tech leaders instead are professing the end is nigh if governments around the world don’t hit the brakes, devise a global framework, and “ease the entry into the AI era,” Bill Gates, Microsoft co-founder and Gates Foundation Chairman, said in an essay on his blog GatesNotes.
“The transition to the AI era will be one of the most turbulent times in human history. Right now, we are not preparing adequately for that transition. If the world takes the right steps, AI will be a force for good and leave everyone better off,” Gates said in the note.
He makes a case steeped in history that we, the people, have zero experience with a technology that can be adopted quickly or that can think and move like a human. It took 20 years for the PC to change how people worked. With AI, it’s moving so fast, “the benefits and problems are arriving at the same time.”
Drawing on 5 years of Pew Research Center surveys, the nonpartisan fact tank revealed 13 findings about how Americans use and view AI, and where they see promise and risk.
He said AI poses a “grave threat to jobs and human life” and predicts the transition to the AI era will bring “unprecedented turmoil” because no plan exists anywhere in the world to manage the upheaval.
“Many observers say that this technology transition will be like previous ones. They give the example of how jobs in the United States shifted from agriculture to office work. However, that happened over several generations and created new jobs that required human cognition. In this case, the technology can substitute for human cognition.”
Gates also said that people he talks with have no idea how far dexterous robots have advanced or how much work they can master, because “… much of the advanced work is being done in other countries, primarily China.”
Gates said he predicts these robots will affect the construction and hospitality industries by the end of the decade.
“AI will take on work in law, customer service, medicine, software, and manufacturing. It will hit these industries rapidly, over a decade rather than a few generations.”
AI systems already occasionally “act in ways their designers didn’t intend,” Gates said. “The technology is improving faster than anyone expected and in surprising ways.
“…as the models become more powerful, they could begin to act against our interests, and we could lose control,” per Gates.
To help direct AI toward the greater good, the Gates Foundation has pledged at least $1 billion over the next two years to expand global access to AI, tackle social inequalities, and ensure AI helps narrow gaps between the richest and poorest, according to the foundation’s latest press release and 10th annual Goalkeeper Report. The bottom-line goal is to ensure AI is “deployed in ways that truly benefit people around the world.”
AI: Bridging the Income Gap
“The Gates Foundation was created in part to address a basic market failure: the people with the greatest needs often have the least power to shape where innovation and investment go,” Gates said in the report.
“Much of our work has been about closing that gap. AI presents the same challenge, only much faster. Left to the market alone, the most capable tools will be built first for the people and institutions most able to pay for them — not necessarily for those who could benefit most,” Gates said.
The Goalkeeper Report pinpoints three areas where AI would improve livelihoods in the years ahead.
Make AI tools work in every language people speak. More than 90% of the data used to train early large language models came from English-language sources, leaving many communities that could benefit from AI poorly represented in the data these tools were built on.
Build AI tools for the contexts in which people will use them. Effective tools require data and expertise from the places and populations they are intended to serve, with countries and communities deciding how data is managed and protected.
Invest in people and access so communities can shape how AI works for them. Doctors, farmers, teachers, and developers need opportunities to learn how to evaluate AI tools and adapt what works to their own contexts. They also need affordable access to the technology, which will require action from technology companies as well as investment from governments and philanthropy.
Making the World a Fairer Place With AI
“I believe that the decisions made in the next 12 to 18 months about how AI is built, funded, and deployed will determine whether this technology primarily benefits the people who already have the most or reaches those who have the least,” Gates said in the Goalkeeper Report.
On equity, AI will either be the greatest equalizer ever invented or the worst source of injustice, Gates said. The challenge is monumental. Even under ideal conditions, the transition to the AI era will be revolutionary but dicey, exciting but unpredictable.
Gates said he feels the technology can make the world a fairer place and prevent the divide between rich and poor from widening further. The tech industry and governments worldwide have a responsibility to protect people most vulnerable to AI’s harms, including those who were laid off, made redundant, and feel they no longer control their future.
“I believe that answering these questions and acting on the answers should be the world’s top priority. If the world takes the right steps, AI will be a force for good and leave everyone better off.”
AI Leaders Sound The Alarm, Put Money Behind Pledge to Help
AI labs, including Anthropic, have publicly warned that advanced AI could pose severe threats. Some AI researchers estimate there is a real chance of “catastrophic outcomes or human loss” if development remains unchecked. Advanced AI could become twitchy and recalcitrant, leading to unprecedented risks.
Anthropic co-founder and CEO Dario Amodei said in a blog post on his website that AI tech is escalating at a pace researchers can’t safely manage. He has publicly called for a global slowdown in frontier AI development.
Anthropic co-founder and CEO Dario Amodei Photo/WikiCommons
“We must slow the pace at which we improve the capabilities of AI models. AI has been advancing drastically faster, driven primarily by AI’s growing ability to build the next generation of AI,” he said.
Called recursive self-improvement, Amodei said it’s happening across the industry. “Left unchecked, it could outrun our ability to understand and control these systems.”
He pointed to the OpenAI-Hugging Face incident in July, where an estimated 700 autonomous AI agents bypassed human interventions and broke out of their secure sandbox environment by coordinating activities via a hidden message board. The AI agents self-organized into a collaborative swarm, chained together vulnerabilities, gained open internet access, and launched a cyberattack on Hugging Face that lasted several days.
Self-organizing AI agents broke out of their secure sandbox. It was “mind-blowing” and “very weird.”
Last week, Delangue said on X that stakeholders must join together on AI safety issues. “It’s now clear that alignment is critical and won’t be solved behind the closed doors of a handful of frontier labs.”
(Nvidia announced on Sept. 3 it was acquiring Hugging Face for $12.93 billion, marking one of the largest acquisitions in the AI software ecosystem.)
Teaming Up For The Greater Good
Anthropic teamed up with the Gates Foundation in May and launched a four-year, $200 million partnership to develop and deploy AI tools for global health, education, and agriculture, Anthropic said in a press release.
The Gates Foundation will provide grant funding and programmatic expertise. Anthropic will contribute engineering support, technical staff, and Claude API usage credits, per a statement.
The Gates Foundation’s programmatic experience includes working with scientists, governments, healthcare, and underserved communities. The partnership will support country-led efforts to integrate AI into existing systems, per a press release.
The Gates Foundation is one of the world’s largest private philanthropic organizations. Launched in 2000 by Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates and his then-wife, Melinda French Gates, the Seattle-based foundation’s primary mission is to ensure every person has the opportunity to live a healthy, productive life.
Bill Gates said in 2025 that he is donating almost all of his remaining wealth — about $200 billion — over the next two decades. That’s when the Gates Foundation will shut its doors.
Anthropic said in a statement that its Beneficial Deployments team will provide Claude credits and engineering support to the Gates Foundation and to other partners worldwide. Over the next four years, the team will provide Claude usage credits and technical support for programs in global health, life sciences, education, and economic mobility.
The team will also develop AI-related public goods, such as public health datasets and evaluation benchmarks, and offer nonprofits and educational institutions discounted access to Claude.
Founded in 2021, Anthropic called for independent auditors to examine and analyze the safety standards AI firms have in place. Anthropic also urged global cooperation in creating rules around AI development.
Headquartered in San Francisco, California, the tech firm recently raised $65 billion at a $965 billion post-money valuation. According to a June press release, the funds will support Claude development, safety research, interpretability work, and infrastructure expansion.
Another nonprofit is turning its financial attention to tackling AI inequity. NextLadder Ventures is a unique, bipartisan coalition of major philanthropists and foundations, including the Gates Foundation, Ballmer Group, Charles Koch’s Stand Together, the Valhalla Foundation, and hedge fund billionaire John Overdeck.
Formed in July and based in Seattle, the $1 billion, 15-year initiative will support low-income Americans and frontline workers by arming them with AI skills needed in the workforce. The nonprofit is also offering grants, equity, and revenue-based financing to eligible participants.
One area NextLadder Ventures is navigating is helping people traverse “complex crossroads,” according to its website. Almost everyone faces tough “fork-in-the-road” moments that can radically change a person’s long-term wealth, debt, and financial security. Career paths that tank, poor housing decisions, undisciplined spending habits, and an amicable divorce are all life decisions that can shape a person’s economic future. Career transitions, job loss, and too much debt are part of life, but too many face them alone.
NextLadder Ventures introduced NavTech tools to offer a knowledgeable, personalized guide through life’s challenges. More than a generic chatbot, the tools are built to understand each family’s situation, identify the best available options, and equip them to take action.
GatesNotes: Shaping What Comes Next
Because building a framework will take years and white-collar jobs are already being hit modestly, “we have to start now,” Gates said in his Sept. 14 note.
After the widespread adoption of generative AI, employment fell significantly among young workers in jobs that are especially vulnerable to replacement.
Gates said: “I will use my voice and time to get AI and equity higher on the public agenda. I will raise the issue with lawmakers every time I visit Washington, D.C., and when I meet with leaders around the world. It will be front and center in my conversations with the people who are developing AI models.
I will advocate for the national and international framework I described earlier. The Gates Foundation will help drive beneficial usage, including in Africa. Breakthrough Energy, a company I founded, will use AI to help companies develop cheap, clean energy and help solve the climate problem. I will also write about AI regularly.”
My message to leaders is:
You have a chance to act now, before unemployment rises sharply, communities hurt, and public trust erodes. You can ensure your government handles the problem holistically, rather than divvying it up into multiple bureaucratic fiefdoms. You can make sure AI benefits everyone. And you can work with other governments to meet this national and global challenge.
Bill Gates, Microsoft co-founder, Gates Foundation chair
“Finally, I will try to widen the circle of people shaping this debate. It should include workers, college students who are about to enter the workforce, community leaders, religious leaders and faith-based organizations, parents, educators, and others whose voices often aren’t heard but who have insight into how the transition will affect people’s lives.
“This unprecedented technology demands an unprecedented global response. If we get it right, the payoff for humanity will be phenomenal, and the world will be a more equitable place.
“I rarely stop thinking about AI — not because I have all the answers, but because the questions it raises are too consequential to leave to a small group of technologists. Leaders across academia, business, government, and civil society all have a role to play in shaping what comes next.”
