Bill Gates Says A $10-an-Hour Robot Could Replace The $20-an-Hour Worker – Yahoo Finance

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A $20-an-hour worker has rent, groceries and bills to cover. A $10-an-hour robot has one big selling point for employers — it costs half as much to get the job done.

As artificial intelligence advances, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates warns that workers could face a race against machines with no clear plan for what happens when they lose.

“The people who need the most time are the ones who have the least,” Gates wrote in an essay published on his Gates Notes blog in August. He pointed to “the accounting worker who’s replaced by a bot or the $20-an-hour worker who loses their job to a $10-an-hour robot,” warning that society isn’t doing enough to prepare for the upheaval ahead.

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AI Could Wipe Out Jobs Faster Than Workers Can Adapt

Previous technological revolutions gave workers time to adjust. As farming jobs disappeared, generations moved into factories, offices and other industries. Gates argued that AI presents a different challenge because it can perform cognitive tasks that once required human intelligence.

Law, customer service, medicine, software and manufacturing are all exposed to the technology. Gates warned that the transition could unfold over a decade rather than several generations, with new jobs potentially failing to replace the positions lost.

Young workers have particular reason for concern. Entry-level jobs help people gain experience, build skills and work their way up. But if AI takes over those positions, the first rung on the career ladder could become harder to find.

Gates cited research showing employment has already fallen among young workers in occupations especially vulnerable to AI, while older workers in those fields haven’t experienced the same decline.

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The disruption may not stop at office desks. Gates expects advanced robots to begin competing with humans on certain physical tasks, including construction and hospitality, by the end of the decade.

“Unfortunately, right now we are not preparing for it,” he wrote. “There is no plan to ease the entry into the AI era.”

Companies Have Every Reason To Keep Cutting Costs

A business doesn’t have to set out to eliminate jobs to end up doing it. If AI and robots can deliver the same work for less money, the financial pressure to adopt them could become difficult to resist.

Gates described a chain reaction. One company automates, cuts expenses and lowers prices. Competitors then face pressure to follow or risk losing customers. If established businesses hesitate, startups could move faster and gain an advantage.

As AI becomes more reliable, companies may have less reason to pay employees to check its work. Gates warned that these market forces could accelerate automation, leaving fewer good jobs and concentrating the gains among a relatively small group.

Gates Wants AI And Robots Taxed

Gates also said that the tax code can tilt the playing field toward machines. Employers generally pay payroll taxes on workers’ earnings, while qualifying equipment purchases can often be deducted as business expenses.

His proposed response includes taxing AI computing and robots, then using the revenue to support retraining and strengthen the safety net. Gates said he has backed a robot tax for years, though any policy would need to avoid slowing beneficial uses of AI, including cheaper medicine and education.

He doesn’t expect economic and geopolitical competition to slow AI development around the world. That makes preparing workers for the consequences even more urgent, in his view.

AI’s Growth Creates Opportunities Beyond Chatbots

The AI boom is also creating opportunities for companies supplying the infrastructure and tools behind the technology.

American Power Gen focuses on power plants designed to serve AI companies. As data centers require more electricity, the businesses supplying that power are becoming part of the broader AI buildout.

Bito is developing technology designed to help AI understand the code it generates. That addresses a challenge as businesses increasingly use AI in software development.

Everyday investors curious about AI’s growth beyond the big chatbot names can explore opportunities open to anyone willing to do the research.

Automation could move faster than retraining programs and new job opportunities can keep up. For companies, the incentive to cut costs is already clear. Gates’ warning is that the people bearing the consequences may be the least prepared for what’s coming.

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This article Bill Gates Says A $10-an-Hour Robot Could Replace The $20-an-Hour Worker – ‘There Is No Plan’ For What Comes Next originally appeared on Benzinga.com