Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates says the development of artificial intelligence (AI) is the most important technological advance in decades.

In a blog post on Tuesday, he called it as fundamental as the creation of the microprocessor, the personal computer, the Internet, and the mobile phone.

"It will change the way people work, learn, travel, get health care, and communicate with each other," he said. He was writing about the technology used by tools such as chatbot ChatGPT.

Figure 1. Bill Gates: AI is most important tech advance in decades

Bill Gates: AI is most important tech advance in decades is shown in figure 1. Developed by OpenAI, ChatGPT is an AI chatbot which is programmed to answer questions online using natural, human-like language.

The team behind it in January 2023 received a multibillion dollar investment from Microsoft - where Mr Gates still serves as an advisor. But it is not the only AI-powered chatbot available, with Google recently introducing rival Bard.[1]

The first time was in 1980, when I was introduced to a graphical user interface—the forerunner of every modern operating system, including Windows.

I sat with the person who had shown me the demo, a brilliant programmer named Charles Simonyi, and we immediately started brainstorming about all the things we could do with such a user-friendly approach to computing.

Charles eventually joined Microsoft, Windows became the backbone of Microsoft, and the thinking we did after that demo helped set the company’s agenda for the next 15 years.

The second big surprise came just last year. I’d been meeting with the team from OpenAIsince 2016 and was impressed by their steady progress. In mid-2022, I was so excited about their work that I gave them a challenge: train an artificial intelligence to pass an Advanced Placement biology exam.

SMake it capable of answering questions that it hasn’t been specifically trained for. (I picked AP Bio because the test is more than a simple regurgitation of scientific facts—it asks you to think critically about biology.) If you can do that, I said, then you’ll have made a true breakthrough.[2]

Impressed by the technology Mr Gates went onto test it a little more, it was here when he asked the AI to write a response to a father whose child is sick.

“It wrote a thoughtful answer that was probably better than most of us in the room would have given,” said Mr. Gates.

According to Mr. Gates, this is when “I knew I had just seen the most important advance in technology since the graphical user interface (GUI).”[3]

References:

1. https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-65032848
2. https://www.independent.co.uk/tech/bill-gates-ai-artificial-intelligence-b2307299.html
3. https://www.techjuice.pk/bill-gates-calls-ai-to-be-the-most-important-tech-advancement-in-decades/

Cite this article:

Gokula Nandhini K (2023), Bill Gates: AI is most important tech advance in decades, Anatechmaz, pp.312