Bill Gates: AI is most important tech advance in decades

The development of artificial intelligence (AI), according to Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, is the most significant technological achievement in decades.

He compared it to the development of the microprocessor, personal computer, Internet, and mobile phone in a blog post on Tuesday. According to him, it will alter how people work, learn, travel, access healthcare, and interact with one another.

He was discussing the technology behind programmes like ChatGPT, a chatbot. ChatGPT, an AI chatbot created by OpenAI, is built to respond to internet queries in a manner that is natural and human-like.

Microsoft, where Mr. Gates still serves as an advisor, made a multibillion dollar investment in the project’s team in January 2023. But it is not the only AI-powered chatbot available, with Google recently introducing rival Bard.

Mr. Gates claimed that since 2016, he has met with OpenAI, the group behind the artificial intelligence that drives chatbot ChatGPT.

Mr. Gates stated in his blog that he issued the OpenAI team a challenge to develop an AI that can pass an Advanced Placement (AP) Biology exam in 2022, which is roughly equivalent to an A-level exam. The challenge came with the strict requirement that the AI could not be specifically programmed to respond to questions in biology. A few months later, the findings were made public. According to him, the score was nearly perfect, with only one mark out of fifty being missed.

Mr. Gates claimed that after the test, he instructed the AI to compose a letter to a father of a sick child.

Mr Gates, who co-chairs the charitable Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, called on governments to work with industry to “limit the risks” of AI, but said the technology could be used to save lives.

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