Bill Gates has made a stunning prophecy for which jobs will be taken over by AI in the next decade.
It’s a question a lot of us are asking as the advancements in artificial intelligence continue to make leaps and bounds.
And the tech mogul may have some answers on what we can expect over the next 10 years.
Gates made an appearance on The Tonight Show where he spoke to host Jimmy Fallon about what he believes the future of AI looks like.
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While we currently rely on humans in many specialist fields, including doctors and teachers, Gates believes that could all change.
In the future, the Microsoft co-founder has said AI will begin to play a huge role in those industries.
He said: “With AI, over the next decade, that will become free, commonplace - great medical advice, great tutoring.”
Gates also spoke to Harvard University professor and happiness expert Arthur Brooks about AI where he said: “It’s very profound and even a little bit scary - because it’s happening very quickly, and there is no upper bound.”
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Speaking to Fallon, Gates remained optimistic about the future, confirming that there are some jobs that he doesn’t see humans ever being replaced by robots, commenting that people most likely don’t want to watch machines playing baseball.
He said: “There will be some things we reserve for ourselves. But in terms of making things and moving things and growing food, over time those will be basically solved problems.”
In a blog post written by Gates back in 2023, he admitted that the development of AI comes with ‘understandable and valid’ concerns.
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Although he also shared the way it could help people, adding: “But I think in the next five to 10 years, AI-driven software will finally deliver on the promise of revolutionizing the way people teach and learn. It will know your interests and your learning style so it can tailor content that will keep you engaged.
“It will measure your understanding, notice when you’re losing interest, and understand what kind of motivation you respond to. It will give immediate feedback.”
In his blog, Gates went on to predict: “There will be an explosion of companies working on new uses of AI as well as ways to improve the technology itself. For example, companies are developing new chips that will provide the massive amounts of processing power needed for artificial intelligence.
“Some use optical switches—lasers, essentially—to reduce their energy consumption and lower the manufacturing cost. Ideally, innovative chips will allow you to run an AI on your own device, rather than in the cloud, as you have to do today.”
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So, which jobs will be safe from the chopping block? Gates has pointed out three job roles that he doesn't think can be replaced by AI.
Coders
While AI does have the ability to generate code, it is far from perfect and humans will be needed to monitor it, fix mistakes and bugs as well as design even more advanced systems.
Energy experts
Gates has also suggested that the energy sector could be too complex for AI to handle at this stage.
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The oil, nuclear and renewable energy sectors require strategy and too much expertise to have a fully automated industry.
Engineers, researchers, and technicians are expected to still be needed to manage infrastructure, understand industry challenges, and innovate for the future.
Biologists
When it comes to biologists, AI technology lacks the necessary creativity for scientific discovery so experts are likely to just use it for analyzing data and diagnosing diseases.
Gates has admitted he certainly could be wrong but the way this ever-advancing technology is used will likely reshape everyday life in similar ways the industrial revolution and the internet did in the past.