Microsoft founder Bill Gates to young job seekers: ‘AI is not a safeguard against…’

Microsoft founder Bill Gates recently shared an advice for young job seekers, particularly Generation Z (Gen Z). In an interview with CNN, Gates said that while using AI is “fun and empowering”, he cautioned that mere knowledge of the AI tools will not be enough to ensure long-term employment stability. He warned that technical skills are important, they won’t safeguard workers from being laid off. “This proficiency, despite the widespread emphasis on digital literacy, is not a safeguard against a pink slip,” Bill Gates said.Despite this, Gates maintained that his advice to the younger generation remains the same: “Be curious, read and use the latest tools.”During the interview, Bill Gates acknowledged that artificial intelligence is already capable of handling simple coding tasks, but said that more advanced work is still out of reach. He also warned that even blue-collar jobs may soon be impacted.“When robotic arms start to be decent, which they're not today, it will start to affect even larger classes of labour,” Gates said.Despite concerns about job losses, Gates said he believes that higher productivity through automation could result in greater benefits for workers.“If you get more productive, that's good. It means you can free up these people... to have longer vacations or, you know, to help do more. So it's not a bad thing,” Bill Gates said.In the same interview, Gates said that AI can currently replace humans in simpler tasks, but it is not capable enough to handle the most complex coding tasks yet. Gates noted that experts in the field disagree on whether AI will achieve this capability within the next one to two years or if it is still a decade away. However, he highlighted that AI is "improving at a rate that surprises" him.