Bill gates suggests AI tax to shield human workers

Bill Gates, the former Microsoft CEO and billionaire, has proposed a 'token tax' on artificial intelligence as a means to protect human workers from job displacement. In a 6,000-word essay on his Gates Notes website, Gates expressed concerns about the impact of AI on the labor market and outlined several proposals to address these issues. He emphasized that the current tax system encourages companies to replace human workers with machines, as they can write off the cost of AI as a business expense. Gates argues that a token tax on AI could help slow the growth of AI's impact on employment and generate funds for job retraining and strengthening social safety nets. He also noted that the tax should be designed to avoid affecting 'purely beneficial uses of AI,' such as making medicine and education more affordable. In addition to the token tax, Gates proposed the concept of 'Human Reserved' jobs, which would be designated for human workers. These jobs would include roles that are difficult to transition from, such as construction, and those requiring a human touch, like caregiving. Gates explained that setting aside certain jobs as Human Reserved could be driven by economic or ethical considerations. For instance, he suggested that a robot delivering bad medical news might be technically possible but ethically inappropriate. The concerns about AI's impact on employment are not new. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman previously stated that 'entire classes of jobs will go away and not come back,' while Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei warned that AI could 'wipe out' half of all white-collar jobs. A recent study found that tens of thousands of jobs were lost due to AI last year, with economists warning of more job losses on the horizon. As a result, anti-AI sentiment is growing, with companies facing backlash from consumers over 'AI slop' and data centers becoming unpopular across political lines. Some politicians are even taking stances against data center construction due to anti-AI sentiment among their constituents. Despite these concerns, some within the AI industry, including Altman, are now backtracking on their previous dire warnings about AI and jobs. The response from AI leaders like Altman and Amodei to Gates's essay remains to be seen, as well as whether such proposals can help alleviate the rising anti-AI sentiment.