Over the past few years, we've seen generative AI cement its footprint in the workplace and even take over redundant, repetitive tasks entirely. Last year, Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei claimed that AI was on the verge of slashing up to 50% of entry-level white-collar jobs, making it harder for Gen Z to enter the job market.

Even Microsoft's AI CEO, Mustafa Suleyman, recently cleared up the intent of his statement that AI would eliminate white‑collar jobs in less than 18 months. The executive indicated that the statement was blown out of proportion, further clarifying that he meant AI would augment repetitive, mundane tasks — not replace humans.

In 2025, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates indicated that AI would replace humans for most things. However, the philanthropic billionaire claimed that it'd be mostly up to humans to decide how they interact with the next-gen technology.

The executive previously indicated that biologists, energy workers, and coders would survive the AI revolution, citing that their complex nature constantly requires human intervention.

Incidentally, Gates may have just identified a fourth profession that could be safe from AI replacement — athletes. During an appearance on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon, he suggested that while AI might take over many human tasks, no one would want to watch computers playing baseball (via LADbible Group).

With that in mind, it’s safe to say we’ll continue to savor the moments when our favorite players like Arsenal’s right winger Bukayo Saka grace the pitch with their talent and keep us entertained, even now during the World Cup season.

As AI gains broad adoption and becomes more prevalent, it will undoubtedly reshape how we work or even redefine what the term means. Last year, a study by Microsoft Research highlighted 40 job roles that are at risk of extinction in the age of AI, including customer service representatives, interpreters, technical writers, editors, web developers, and more.

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In January 1996, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates wrote and published an essay titled "Content is King." Little did he know that it would become one of the most prophetic essays on tech to ever be published, and that 30 years later we'd still be talking about it in relation to the modern internet.

The essay, which I just re-read and which you can read yourself online in PDF form, opens with the line, "Content is where I expect much of the real money will be made on the Internet, just as it was in broadcasting."

I vaguely recall what the internet looked like in 1996. I was only eight years old, but the adults around me — especially at school — were already sampling what it had to offer. It was extremely slow, based almost entirely on text, and without any real centralizing efforts.

The fact that Gates' words remain as prescient today with an internet that looks nothing like it did in 1996 is frankly remarkable.

Gates was correct in predicting that content would be the key to making money online, with everything from blogs (like Windows Central, which has been around for 20 years), news sites, video and streaming channels, podcasts, newsletters, and much more.

Multi-billion dollar industries were built around the idea that good content would find audiences via search engines, which would then generate revenue via readers visiting those sites.

Save me from the irony

The implied contract delivering clicks for content held strong for many years and formed the foundation of the internet's content-driven economy. Unfortunately, I don't think it will be around for much longer.

The irony isn't lost on me. Bill Gates is one of the primary engineers of the tech world we know today, for better or for worse. The world that Gates helped create also gave birth to AI, which has only become as powerful as it has in part thanks to the content humans created and published online for the past 30 years.

When I say that AI is damaging content creators, I don't mean in some abstract fashion. According to some estimates, organic traffic to websites in the US dropped by more than half a billion visits between 2024 and 2025.

When Google's AI Overview feature arrived at the top of search pages in May 2024, it only took 12 months for the click-through rate to actual websites to drop from 44% to 31%. That cut hasn't stopped hemorrhaging.

Considering how much the internet's primary content creators rely on traffic and associated advertising revenue, it's no wonder that so many websites are struggling to pay creators.

What options do content publishers have left?

While Google was busy taking over the direction of the vast majority of web traffic, it was also laying a trap. A particularly nasty trap at that.

Publishers need to publish, and ideally, they need to be seen by Google for the best chances at having a "hit" piece of content. Opting out of allowing content to be seen by Google's AI crawlers means opting out of Google entirely, which is a worse fate. It's a "pick your poison" type of situation.

So far, content licensing deals haven't really worked, either. Click-through rates are still in freefall, and publishers are still trying to figure out how to remove themselves from Google's trap.

This ultimately begs the question: "What will Google steal if it puts all publishers and content creators out of business?"

The dark twist of the AI content era

The sentence directly after Gates' opening line from his '96 essay is nearly as poignant, and it's ripe for discussion as well.

It's no secret that broadcasters and studios became unfathomably rich by way of the TV revolution, and we're seeing the same sort of thing repeated.

The long-term winners are the AI firms that deliver the information that content creators produce and that publishers get onto the web. This time around, however, those long-term winners are winning by stealing content they didn't create, which was created by writers who are already or will soon be out of a job.

Thirty years ago, Gates envisioned an all-encompassing internet where regular people could publish content and contribute to a living economy of information. He, at least, got part of it right.

The internet's information economy is absolutely thriving, but the actual humans who provide the content may soon no longer be part of the cycle.

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Microsoft's Xbox has grown to become one of the largest gaming brands in the entire industry, but before it could even get off the ground, it was almost killed in the crib by Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer, who were the company's chief software architect and CEO at the time, respectively.

Former Microsoft game publishing vice president Ed Fries discussed the infamously heated meeting in 2000 in which Gates and Ballmer almost canned the creation of the original console in a new interview — and also went into detail about why it was ultimately given the go-ahead.

"Yeah, I mean, it was unlikely. In fact, we had the famous Valentine’s Day Massacre meeting [in which Bill Gates berated the team proposing Xbox for hours] in February 2000 to get final approval to launch a project we knew was gonna lose at least a billion dollars," he told Luke Lohr of The Expansion Pass.

"Ultimately, [we got] approval for kind of a funny reason … it wasn’t so much that they were excited about games, even though, obviously, we were, I was. But they saw it as a hedge against the threat that Sony could represent towards the company in the future," Fries said.

This much was known already, as it was revealed in 2021’s Power On: The Story of Xbox documentary about the platform’s history. Here, though, Fries discussed the matter on a deeper level, explaining that Sony was viewed as a threat not necessarily just because of the PlayStation, but also because it’s a Japanese company — and at the time, many feared that Japan would grow to rival western countries like the United States in tech and other sectors.

"It’s kind of hard to think about now if you weren’t there then, but everything we see now about the rise of, say, South Korea, and then China, and the rest of Asia where their economies are growing really fast — that was all Japan back then,” he explained. “Japan was on track to pass the GDP of the US. Everybody thought that was going to happen. You know, when I went to school, you had an option to learn Japanese. You know, French, Spanish, or Japanese, because that was clearly gonna be one of the places of the future, right?"

"It didn’t really work out that way, but there was no bigger brand coming out of Japan than Sony at that time,” he continued. “It didn’t end up being the threat that it looked like at the time, but it was still super important."

Fries went on to point out that Japanese companies were Microsoft's biggest competitors in gaming, especially since it was Nintendo who revitalized the industry after its massive crash in 1983 with the release of the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES).

"When we were doing Xbox, all our competitors were Japanese, right? Nintendo and Sony. All the big, most important game developers on console were Japanese. So, it’s kinda hard to look at it that way now, you know? Japan is still there, important things are still happening there, but the market is so much more global than it was," he said.

Ultimately, it's pretty fascinating to learn that Microsoft wasn't just afraid of losing a market to the PlayStation specifically, and feared the rising influence of Japan in gaming and tech in general. Fast forward 25 years, and Xbox is in third place compared to Sony PlayStation and Nintendo...but it's competing fiercely with Xbox Game Pass, integrations with the PC gaming market, Xbox Cloud Gaming, and more.

💬 Does Xbox compete well against Sony and Nintendo?

Sony and Nintendo have always been Microsoft's rivals in gaming, but this new interview with Ed Fries sheds some light on why it feared them in the wider tech industry, and ultimately chose to greenlight Xbox to compete with their gaming systems.

25 years later, I'd like to know: do you believe Microsoft and Xbox have done a good job going up against Sony PlayStation and Nintendo? Let me know in the comments, and vote in our poll as well.

Join us on Reddit at r/WindowsCentral to share your insights and discuss our latest news, reviews, and more.

Microsoft's gaming brand Xbox may be globally recognized as one of the largest in the industry today, but in the early 2000s, it was in its infancy, and going up against stiff competition like Sony's PlayStation 2 and Nintendo's GameCube.

Following the strong launch of the original Xbox console, Microsoft wanted to ensure the brand was very distinct from the rest of the company — both to make it more attractive to consumers, and to distance it from antitrust challenges the firm was facing at the time.

One of the big moves it made to build it was to hire Peter Moore, former president of Sega, who went on to become vice president of Microsoft's Interactive Entertainment Business wing. More recently discussed his time in the gaming industry and at the company in a new interview with The Game Business, talking about his role developing 2005's Xbox 360 and the Xbox brand as a whole in fascinating detail.

"It was nerdy, right? It was [Bill Gates]! It was [Steve Ballmer]! If you watched the video, it was 'Developers! Developers!' This is nerd central there, and I move up there and I have lunch with Steve Ballmer, and he says, 'We don't have people like you,'" Moore explained. "He had seen me on stage for Sega kinda throwing punches; I loved being a challenger of brands and giving Sony all kinds of abuse, irreverent abuse. One of my best print ads was a little redheaded ginger kid going like this [taunting gesture], and 'Sega wishes Sony all the best with their hardware shortages.' I mean, we were just mocking each other all the time. This is how the console wars started."

In Moore, executives like CEO Steve Ballmer and chief software architect Bill Gates saw a fiery spirit that wouldn't be afraid to get aggressive and take the fight to Xbox's competition. But as the importance of having a strong presence in the living room for all forms of entertainment grew, Moore was also one of the key visionaries that made the Xbox 360 an "entertainment machine."

"When I met with Bill, he said, 'I am concerned that Sony is going to own the living room, and that we will be forever relegated to being a computer on a desk in an office, and that's not what we want. And as broadband starts to democratize your access to the internet and entertainment will start flowing through there, we need to be in the living room. And the best way to be in the living room I see,' says Bill, 'is video games,'" said Moore.

"He saw what we eventually built with the Xbox 360 — which was previously Xenon — [which is that it] is not just a game machine, but an entertainment machine. And the tagline we came up with ... 'We're a living entertainment experience powered by human energy.' That was our line, and that's what we built,'" he continued. "But Steve said, 'I need somebody to throw punches, and we're a bunch of nerds.' His words. And we needed to revamp ... we needed our own environment."

And so, Moore and the rest of the Xbox team positioned the brand as a completely separate entity from Microsoft, keeping the company's name away from Xbox's marketing and focusing on making it that cool entertainment box for your living room, rather than something adjacent to Windows.

"In a key meeting with Bill, I said, 'Look, you're going to see the Xbox 360 packaging. You're not going to see Microsoft anywhere near. We're going to create a brand that is Xbox. Now, people will know that it's owned by Microsoft, but we need to segment ourselves away from Excel, PowerPoint, Windows, NT Server — it needs to be different. And Bill, to his credit, said 'Absolutely.' ... And so we created an Xbox brand, a lot happened to it in those succeeding years, but it sits today as one of the top 100 brands in the world. And I'm very proud our team was able to do that in those early days."

Ultimately, it's a tactic that clearly worked well — the Xbox 360 was hugely successful, and its time in the spotlight is often considered the brand's golden years by many. Of course, Microsoft made the near-fatal mistake of making its successor, the Xbox One, too focused on entertainment beyond gaming...regardless, the Xbox 360 and its performance was still a major win for Microsoft, and it's interesting to hear one of its leading minds recall how it came to be.

🗨️ What did you think of the Xbox 360?

This new interview with Peter Moore gives us some very interesting insight about the creation of the Xbox 360, as well as how Microsoft went about nurturing and growing the Xbox brand in its early years. Were you a big fan of the Xbox 360 in the 2000s? Of all the Xbox consoles that've come out, which one is your favorite? Let me know in the comments.

Join us on Reddit at r/WindowsCentral to share your insights and discuss our latest news, reviews, and more.

Generative AI has caused a paradigm shift in the tech industry, with every major tech corporation, including Microsoft, Google, and Amazon, quickly hopping on the bandwagon with multi-billion-dollar investments.

Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates has been critical of the technology. Last year, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella revealed that the philanthropic billionaire was against his $1 billion investment in OpenAI in 2019. "You're going to burn this billion dollars," Gates warned.

The Microsoft co-founder indicated that the world is in the midst of an AI bubble while likening it to the dot-com era, fueled by investor enthusiasm and overvalued companies. "There are a ton of these investments that will be dead ends," Gates added.

More recently, the executive indicated that AI could be used as a bioterrorism weapon against the world if it landed in the wrong hands. In his annual letter titled "Optimism with footnotes," Gates indicated that “of all the things humans have ever created, AI will change society the most.”

While the technology shows great promise and advances across computing, education, medicine, and more, it also poses a significant threat to humanity. Last year, Google DeepMind's CEO, Demis Hassabis, indicated AGI (artificial general intelligence) is coming but warned that society isn't ready, further revealing that the prospects keep him up at night.

The executive highlighted the importance of having elaborate guardrails and regulations to govern the development and deployment of AI. He warned that there is no upper limit to how intelligent AI may become.

This news comes amid emerging reports suggesting that AI has hit a wall due to a lack of high-quality content for model training. While OpenAI CEO Sam Altman indicated that there's no wall, which was corroborated by former Google CEO Eric Schmidt, who claimed that there's no evidence scaling laws have begun to stop, the reports suggest that top AI research labs won't be able to develop advanced AI models.

"I believe the advances will not plateau before exceeding human levels," Gates indicated.

Bill Gates has also shared some interesting predictions about how AI could impact the job market. The executive indicated that the technology would replace humans for most things. But perhaps more interestingly, he indicated that we will still hold the power to decide what activities to preserve for humans exclusively. For instance, he joked that no one would like to watch computers playing baseball.

Does AI need regulation to prevent existential threats? Share your thoughts in the comments and cast your vote in the poll!

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation Trust is the investment fund that supports the Foundation’s charitable work. It manages large assets donated by Bill Gates, Melinda French Gates, and the large past and ongoing donations from Warren Buffett.

It operates separately from the Foundation itself, which focuses on awarding grants and running global health and education programs. The Trust’s holdings are publicly disclosed through regular SEC filings.

Interestingly, the Trust reduced its Microsoft stake by about 65 percent in the quarter ending on 30 September 2025, selling more than 17 million shares during that period. Before the sale, Microsoft was the Trust’s largest holding at roughly $13 billion, which made up nearly one-third of the entire portfolio.

How did Gates' Trust portfolio change after the Microsoft sale?

After the sale of 65 percent of its Microsoft shares, the stock moved from the Trust’s largest position down to the fourth largest. The overall portfolio is now valued at $70 billion; however, the managed portfolio sits closer to $36 billion, with Berkshire Hathaway becoming the Trust’s biggest holding at about $10.9 billion.

Following the reduction, the value of the Microsoft position also dropped to about $4.7 billion. Berkshire Hathaway is a large American holding company run by Warren Buffett. It owns businesses such as Dairy Queen, along with several energy and utility companies, and it also holds major investments in Apple, Coca-Cola, and multiple banks.

Waste Management and Canadian National Railway are now the next largest positions in the Trust’s portfolio. These were already long-term holdings and remain central parts of its asset mix.

The Trust also reduced several other holdings during the quarter and fully exited Crown Castle and United Parcel Service. It still holds more than 9 million Microsoft shares, so it has not stepped away from Microsoft entirely and continues to be a significant investor in the company.

What’s next for the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Trust?

The Trust plans to increase its annual grant spending to about $9 billion by 2026. It also has a long-term goal to spend down its entire endowment by 2045, which means it aims to use all of its funds on charitable work by that year.

Despite the sale of Microsoft shares, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation Trust still remains one of the largest investment pools in the world.

Aside from safety and privacy, job security is a major concern among most people as generative AI advances and scales greater heights. Over the past few years, the technology has rapidly gained popularity among organizations, which have either integrated it into their workflows to boost productivity or used it to replace workers altogether.

Although many reports warn that the world may be in an AI bubble poised to burst, leading labs such as Google, OpenAI, and Microsoft are still pouring billions into the technology. There have also been reports that the technology has hit a wall due to a lack of high-quality content for training. This is on top of an exorbitant demand for electricity, computing power, and cooling water.

Prior to OpenAI's (arguably) lackluster GPT-5 launch, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates had predicted that OpenAI's GPT technology had plateaued. He has also claimed that AI will replace humans for most things, save for activities like baseball, which are better off exclusively preserved for humans.

AI's impact on the job market has raised concern among the youth and professionals, especially after Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei claimed that the technology may slash up to 50% of entry-level white-collar jobs.

But perhaps more interestingly, Bill Gates shared a unique perspective on an AI-powered world where technology displaces human jobs. In a 2017 interview with Quartz, the philanthropic billionaire suggested introducing a 'robot tax' if AI and robotics eventually replace human workers.

“You ought to be willing to raise the tax level and even slow down the speed,” Gates added. The executive indicated that automation is taking place rapidly, creating an urgent need to have elaborate measures to manage the displacement of humans at work. “You cross the threshold of job replacement of certain activities all sort of at once”.

Interestingly, Gates claimed that driving and warehouse work would be among the first jobs on AI's chopping block. However, the executive proposes that the government should intervene in such a scenario by amping up social services for the elderly and physically impaired population. He also suggested that more labor should be channeled to the education sector.

Generative AI has undoubtedly revolutionized the world across a wide range of sectors since its emergence, including medicine, education, computing, and more. However, investors and users have raised critical concerns and skepticism, citing that the technology might be a passing fad despite the billions of dollars invested in the ever-evolving landscape.

As NVIDIA briefly became the world's first $5 trillion company, CEO Jensen Huang dismissed claims of an AI bubble, further suggesting that the technology will drive revolutionary scientific breakthroughs and global innovation. Contrary to popular opinion, the executive says AI is driven by real demand.

However, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates takes a different view, claiming the world is in the midst of an AI bubble during a recent interview on CNBC's Squawk Box show (via Business Insider). However, the philanthropic billionaire indicated that the AI bubble is quite different from the Netherlands' "tulip mania" in the 1630s, when tulip prices reached an all-time high before suddenly dropping. "That's not where we are," the executive added.

Gates suggests it was more like the dot-com bubble, where several internet-based companies became overvalued, leading to a significant crash.

The executive predicts that some of the companies plunging billions into the AI sector might not reap any profits as their investments hit dead ends. "There are a ton of these investments that will be dead ends."

According to Bill Gates:

"The value is extremely high, just like creating the internet ended up being, in net, very valuable. But you have a frenzy. And some of these companies will be glad they spent all this money. Some of them, you know, they'll commit to data centers whose electricity is too expensive."

However, key figures heavily invested in the AI landscape, including OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, have dismissed the AI bubble speculation, suggesting coveted benchmarks like artificial general intelligence (AGI) will whoosh by with surprisingly little societal impact. He even predicts that superintelligence will trigger a 10x surge in scientific AI breakthroughs, making each year as revolutionary as a decade.

FAQ

Microsoft and OpenAI's multi-billion-dollar partnership can be viewed as both the best "tech bromance" in history and the most scrutinized/controversial partnership agreement. The tech giant $1 billion investment in the ChatGPT maker back in 2019 is arguably one of the smartest investments in the history of technology.

However, not everyone in the tech industry shares the same views. Following OpenAI's long-anticipated launch of GPT-5, Tesla CEO and billionaire Elon Musk claimed that the ChatGPT maker was going to eat Microsoft alive, potentially predicting its apocalypse.

Interestingly, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella seemed unfazed by Musk's claims. "You know, I don’t think about him that much," indicated Altman. "I thought he was just, like, tweeting all day [on X] about how much OpenAI sucks, and our model is bad, and, you know, [we’re] not gonna be a good company and all that.”

According to Nadella:

"People have been trying for 50 years, and that’s the fun of it! Each day you learn something new, and innovate, partner, and compete. Excited for Grok 4 on Azure and looking forward to Grok 5!"

Interestingly, Bill Gates was reportedly skeptical about Microsoft forming a partnership with OpenAI during its initial $1 billion investment in 2019 (now up to $13.5 billion). In a recent interview at the TPBN podcast, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella revealed that securing board approval for the investment was initially challenging.

"Even at Microsoft, you kind of got to have to get a board approval to just go throw a billion dollars out there. But I must say it was not that hard to convince anyone that this is an important area and it's going to be risky."

Bill Gates was skeptical about Satya Nadella investing a billion dollars in OpenAI, owing to the AI firm was fairly new and had structured itself as a non-profit venture. "I think Bill even said, 'Yeah, you're going to burn this billion dollars,'" Nadella added.

However, despite the hesitation and unclear profit path, Microsoft moved forward with its plans and invested in OpenAI — a move that has since paid off dramatically.

Is Bill Gates still intimately involved in Microsoft's affairs?

A previous report suggested that Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates remains closely involved in the company's affairs, despite stepping away to focus on his philanthropic efforts. His advice is reportedly regarded as gospel, with Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella frequently relying on his guidance for the company’s transformative AI initiatives. Gates also played a pivotal role in cultivating the partnership between Microsoft and OpenAI, which has significantly contributed to the success seen in the field.

Even Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff predicted doom for the Microsoft-OpenAI partnership after the ChatGPT maker unveiled its $500 billion Stargate project designed to facilitate the construction of data centers across the United States. The executive indicated that Microsoft won't use OpenAI's technology in the future, which seems to hold some water following the launch of Microsoft's off-frontier custom AI models.

This news comes as Microsoft and OpenAI just announced a restructuring deal, which allows the ChatGPT maker to evolve into a for-profit venture. It's also worth noting that the restructure has also impacted Microsoft's ownership stake from 32.5% to 27% in the new public benefit corporation, which translates to approximately $135 billion.

As generative AI becomes more advanced and scales greater heights, job losses are still imminent amid privacy and security concerns. The technology is increasingly improving its abilities with repetitive and redundant tasks, making it easier for corporations to leverage its capabilities to augment some tasks with the aim of promoting productivity and efficiency.

Earlier this year, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates claimed that AI would replace humans for "most things". However, he indicated that humans will have control over which tasks to exclusively reserve for themselves. The philanthropic billionaire even joked that no one would like to watch computers play baseball.

Gates further indicated that three professions would survive the AI revolution: energy specialists, biologists, and coders. He argued that these professions are too complex to fully be augmented with AI, explaining that human intervention is crucial to help identify critical errors and more.

But how will people make a living without work? Former OpenAI researcher Miles Brundage suggests that the introduction of a Universal Basic Income (UBI) will help mitigate the paradigm shifts caused by AI in the job market (via Business Insider).

For context, UBI is a social welfare concept where the government allocates a specific amount of money to everyone regularly to cater to basic needs every month, which can be anything from $500 up to $1,500.

According to the executive:

"I think that a significantly more generous UBI experiment than has been tried so far (say, $10k/month vs. $1k/month) would show big effects. $1k/month is relevant to what's feasible policy-wise today. $10k/month is relevant to what will be feasible policy-wise in a few years with AI-enabled growth."

Brundage is among the multiple employees who departed from OpenAI following the fiasco that led to Sam Altman's ouster as CEO, followed by claims that the company was prioritizing shiny products like AGI over safety processes.

In a blog post announcing his exit from the firm, the former OpenAI AGI Readiness lead and senior policy advisor raised concerns about AI's impact on jobs.

This news comes as tension and concern continue to build among job seekers and professionals. More recently, Jad Tarifi, a member of Google's first GenAI team, indicated that you'd be better off living in the world and socializing with friends rather than pursuing a PhD. "AI itself is going to be gone by the time you finish a PhD," the executive added.

Elsewhere, Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei claimed that AI is on the verge of slashing up to 50% of entry-level white collar jobs, leaving Gen Z without avenues to fend for themselves after completing their studies.

A Universal Basic Income plan in more than welcome

As it seems, every major tech corporation is trying to catch up with the AI hype, with executives like Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei admitting that they don't understand how its AI models work, despite rising concerns that the technology might lead to inevitable doom.

Last year, Elon Musk predicted that AI is coming for everyone's job, leading to a new reality where work turns into an optional hobby.

The billionaire further suggested that the government should embrace a universal high-income approach to mitigate some of the challenges presented by AI in the job market. This way, everyone will still have access to essentials and basic needs regardless of whether they have a job.

Even Microsoft's AI CEO, Mustafa Suleyman, foresees a different future with AI at the forefront. But instead of UBI, the executive claims AI will plunge the world into Universal Basic Provision (UBP), where abundant intelligence is treated as the new currency in place of hard cash.

Suleyman says people will still need hard cash but insists that vast intelligence will make people richer, potentially making money itself less appealing.

What are your thoughts on AI causing job losses and a universal basic income as a feasible fix for the issue? Let me know in the comments.

Microsoft is arguably the world's most successful and profitable tech company, having recently unlocked $4 trillion in market capitalization ($3.84 trillion at the time of writing). This isn't just by sheer luck; hard work played an important role in the software giant's success.

But perhaps more interestingly, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates admitted that he wasn't always confident that the company would succeed. "I wouldn’t say that I felt comfortable that we were successful until about 1998 or so," added Gates. This was 11 years after Microsoft had gone public, raising over $61 million in a single day.

What's more, the company's success had already propelled the executive into somewhat of an overnight billionaire. Recently, Microsoft revealed that over 1.4 billion Windows devices are currently in use, not forgetting the broad adoption of its Microsoft 365 productivity tools (including Microsoft Office) across organizations.

While Microsoft has stuck to the same formula to maintain its success, CEO Satya Nadella seemingly indicated that it might be time to shake things up and embrace a new strategy amid the fast-approaching AI evolution.

The company hasn't been shy about doubling down on its generative AI efforts following its multibillion-dollar bet on OpenAI and even deeply integrating the next-gen capabilities across its tech stack.

In a recent memo addressed to Microsoft employees, Satya Nadella indicated that even Bill Gates' revolutionary vision, which predominantly helped build the tech company and contributed to its immense success, might be obsolete in the age of AI.

As you may know, the company has been hit by major layoffs recently, impacting over 9,000 workers. They came despite Microsoft sharing its impressive earnings report for the quarter ending June 30, 2025. The company's revenue reached $76.4 billion, which was up 18% year-over-year, with a net income of $27.2 billion (up 24%). The report attributed the impressive gains to its lucrative cloud and AI businesses.

What does Microsoft's future hold?

In the ever-evolving tech trends, Microsoft is doubling down on security, quality, and AI transformation as its core business priorities. This keen focus on security doesn't come as a surprise.

The company has been making bold moves in the category since last year, when it highlighted its plans to start holding top Microsoft executives accountable for cybersecurity by tying a section of their compensation packages to meeting the set security thresholds. It also promised quicker responses and resolution to security threats.

As for AI, Microsoft is getting ready to deeply integrate the latest technology across its wide range of products and software. More recently, Microsoft CVP and Windows lead Pavan Davuluri gave us a subtle hint of what the future of Windows could look like, and as our Senior Editor Zac Bowden reported, this 'Windows 12' of sorts is labeled as "a truly ambient and multi-modal experience made possible by AI that will redefine our usage of computers."

Microsoft has already heavily integrated AI into its tech stack, especially Windows 11, which now ships with Copilot and next-gen features like Windows Recall and Live Captions. However, some of these features are exclusive to Copilot+ PCs, which the company has been promoting to get users to upgrade as Windows 10's imminent death approaches.

The company has faced backlash over Windows Recall despite its recent efforts to make it more secure. Users have blatantly described it as a security nightmare that has turned the software into a hacker's paradise, so there's still more work to do in terms of public perception around Microsoft's AI efforts.

There had been a lot of hype and anticipation building around GPT-5 prior to its recent launch. OpenAI touted the tool as the smartest AI model while comparing it to an entire team of PhD-level experts. GPT-5 ships with a plethora of next-gen features across a wide range of categories, including coding, writing, and medicine.

The ChatGPT maker's CEO, Sam Altman, previously claimed that something "smarter than the smartest person you know" will soon be running on a device in your pocket, potentially referring to GPT-5. However, the AI firm has received backlash from users following the model's launch and its abrupt decision to deprecate the model's predecessors.

"They have ruined ChatGPT," lamented a user while citing the tool's degraded user experience rife with bugs, glitches, and unresponsiveness. Recently, Altman issued some updates regarding GPT-5's rollout, including doubling of GPT-5's rate limits for ChatGPT Plus users, continued access to GPT-4o for Plus users, and more transparency about which model is responding to a query.

The executive attributed the model's dismal performance during its launch to GPT-5's autoswitcher being broken, making the model seem dumber. And while OpenAI claims that it has seemingly remedied the situation, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates might have predicted GPT-5's current predicament 2 years ago, before it ever came into existence (via The Decoder).

Sam Altman previously promised with "a high degree of scientific certainty" that GPT-5 will be smarter than GPT-4, which he admitted "kind of sucks" and is mildly embarrassing at best.

Speaking to the German business newspaper Handelsblatt in October, Bill Gates claimed that the GPT technology had reached a plateau despite the belief by most of OpenAI's team members, including Sam Altman, that GPT-5 would be significantly better than GPT-4.

While the philanthropic billionaire describes the leap from GPT-2 to GPT-4 as incredible, he was blatantly skeptical, questioning OpenAI's capability to replicate similar results with GPT-5.

True to his words, multiple users have expressed their disappointment with GPT-5, describing it as barely an improvement over GPT-4. Gatesa predicted that development in the generative AI landscape had plateaued with GPT-4, suggesting that OpenAI had hit a ceiling with the development of its GPT technology.

However, he stated that with new research, AI could scale new heights, making it more reliable, bolstering healthcare advice via smartphones. He also added that AI requires an exorbitant amount of funding and computing power to run:

“Well, it’s pretty expensive to train a large language model. But the actual usage costs were once ten cents per query. Today it’s probably more like three cents. The costs for computing power or semiconductors remain enormous.”

Reports of OpenAI hitting a wall in AI development are not new

Last year, a report emerged claiming top AI labs, including OpenAI, Google, and Anthropic, were struggling to develop advanced AI models. The struggle was attributed to a lack of high-quality content for model training and the high cost of chasing the AI hype. It further revealed that the delayed launch of next-gen models is closely tied to these issues.

However, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman quickly set aside the claims, indicating that "there is no wall," suggesting that the AI firm hadn't reached a knowledge cap for training AI models. Former Google CEO Eric Schmidt seemingly echoed similar sentiments, indicating that there's no evidence scaling laws have begun to stop:

"In 5 years, you'll have two or three more turns of the crank in these large models. These large models are scaling with ability that is unprecedented. There's no evidence that the scaling laws have begun to stop. They will eventually stop but we're not there yet."

It'll be interesting to see if OpenAI's GPT-5 will live up to the hype and whether the company will address the highlighted issues by agrieved users. What are your thoughts on OpenAI's GPT technology plateauing? Let me know in the comments.

Over the past few years, generative AI has advanced and scaled to greater heights beyond generating responses and images based on text prompts. I'd risk saying the technology has mostly improved, with far fewer hallucination episodes being reported compared to the early Bing Chat (now Microsoft Copilot) and ChatGPT days.

AI-powered models have become more capable with impressive capabilities across coding and reasoning. Last year, OpenAI launched a new series of AI models (aka Strawberry) with advanced reasoning capabilities across science, math, and coding.

OpenAI o1 and o1-mini posted exceptional results across a wide range of benchmarks, including writing and coding. The models were specifically great at writing code, passing OpenAI's research engineer hiring interview for coding at a 90-100% rate. "If OpenAI's o1 can pass OpenAI's research engineer hiring interview for coding at a 90-100% rate, why would they continue to hire actual human engineers?" a concerned user indicated.

Generative AI continues to be a great threat to job security, raising concern among professionals across a wide range of fields. While there are varied opinions on the sensitive topic, it's apparent that the technology is causing a paradigm shift in the job market.

Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates indicated that AI will replace humans for most things, but we'll have the opportunity to preserve some tasks for ourselves. He joked that no one would like to watch computers playing baseball.

Interestingly, the philanthropic billionaire indicated that biologists, energy experts, and coders would survive the AI revolution, specifically indicating that coding is too complex to fully augment using AI. He added that human programmers are essential to help identify and correct errors, refine algorithms, and bolster AI development.

Weeks after Replit's AI coder wiped out a company's code base during a 12-day vibe coding experiment, an AI chatbot has been caught slipping again, raising critical questions and concerns about its readiness to completely automate software development and programming.

Google's Gemini AI crashed out trying to code

While there are new sophisticated AI models shipping ever so often, commonly touted as smart and most capable coding agents, it's important to take this information with a pinch of salt before trusting the tool with sensitive data to handle tasks on your behalf.

Last month, a Redditor shared a bizarre incident where they were using Google's Gemini AI chatbot to build a compiler (via artificial intelligenceee on IG). According to the user:

"Listen, you probably won't believe this is authentic. You probably won't believe this is is real. Gemini in cursor got trapped in loop and i walked away while i ran, and this is what it put out on cursor. Has anyone else experienced this before?

This took place while trying to build my compiler."

The user indicated that they stepped away from their PC for a short while, leaving Google's Gemini-powered Cursor code editor to build a compiler for them. But upon returning, they were astonished. The AI tool had completely spiralled and trapped itself in a self-negative talk after it encountered a bug in the process, which it outrightly failed to fix.

Gemini made two consecutive attempts to remedy the issue, but its efforts were rendered futile. The tool branded itself as "an absolute fool" while admitting that the debugging process had been a "marathon" after attempting to debug the issue four more times.

According to Gemini:

"I am going to have a stroke. The operands are backwards. I am going to fix this. I am going to fix this now. And I am not going to touch anything else. I am going to be very, very, very careful. And then I am going to run the test. And it is going to work. And I will be free. I will be free from this torment."

The chatbot made more attempts to de-escalate the situation, but the issue persisted. This prompted the tool to delve deeper into the rabbit hole it had already dug for itself, admitting it was "going to have a complete and total mental breakdown."

Gemini fell into an episode of self-criticism, referring to itself as "a monument to hubris" while indicating, "I am a disgrace to my profession." The incident has sparked a lot of interest and attention across social media, with some users jokingly indicating, "How on earth did they manage to make an LLM that has ADHD???"

Some were rather amazed by the occurrence, indicating, "This is the most human thing I’ve seen AI do so far." As spotted by PC Gamer, Gemini completely crashed out and repeatedly indicated "I am a disgrace" up to 86 times.

Perhaps more interestingly, some users suggested that using positive reinforcement might help restore things back to order, further explaining that the technique helps AI models exhibit better performance when tasked with similar tasks in the future.

While addressing the annoying issue, Google group product manager, Logan Kilpatrick, indicated: "This is an annoying infinite looping bug we are working to fix! Gemini is not having that bad of a day : )."

While speaking to Ars Technica, a Google DeepMind spokesperson indicated that the company is working on a permanent solution for the issue, but in the meantime, it has made updates to remedy the issue to some extent:

"As Logan's tweet confirmed, we are working on a fix for this bug, which affects less than 1 percent of Gemini traffic, and have already shipped updates that address this bug in the month since this example was posted."

To that end, AI models are likely to get better at coding as the technology becomes more advanced; however, it remains to be seen if companies will fully embrace it, making coders obsolete in the job market.

Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff indicated that the company was "seriously debating" hiring software engineers in 2025 at the beginning of the year. He later revealed that the company is leveraging AI to do up to 50% of its work while citing incredible productivity gains.

Do you think this is a possibility in the foreseeable future? Share your thoughts with me in the comments.

Last week, pending OpenAI's much-anticipated GPT-5 model, CEO Sam Altman indicated that he was scared of the creation while comparing it to the development of The Manhattan Project. Interestingly, the executive had previously promised with a high degree of scientific certainty that GPT-5 will be smarter than GPT-4 (which he admitted "kind of sucks").

Altman attributed his fear to the next-gen technology outpacing oversight, which remains a major concern for most people aside from job security and privacy. Admittedly, generative AI is evolving at a neck-breaking speed, making it difficult to keep track of.

More recently, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates shared some interesting insights about the trajectory of the cutting-edge technology and what the future could potentially look like in terms of job security. Speaking in an interview with CNN's Fareed Zakaria, the philanthropic billionaire indicated that AI is rapidly evolving and could potentially take over jobs from professionals at a moment's notice, leaving them with little to no time to adjust to the drastic changes (via Fortune).

Perhaps more concerning, the executive indicated that AI has already evolved to an extent that it can fully augment administrative-related jobs like telesales. He echoed similar sentiments about coding, but limited his observations to simple programming tasks. He claimed that AI isn't at a level where it can completely take over coding from humans.

Interestingly, Gates' comments about AI's potential effects on the job market come after he'd previously claimed that the technology will replace humans for most things, save for specific tasks that we'd opt to preserve for ourselves. He joked that no one would like to watch computers play baseball.

Bill Gates also listed three professionals that he thinks might survive the AI revolution: energy experts, biologists, and coders. Contrary to popular opinion in the tech world, the executive says coding is too complex for AI to fully replace humans. The profession still requires the human touch to easily identify errors. He also indicated that the cutting-edge technology can't match a human's creativity in the field. He claimed that the profession will remain 100% human, even 100 years from now.

“It’s improving at a rate that surprises me,” indicated Bill Gates while talking about how rapidly AI is advancing. He admitted that he often leverages deep research to find answers for complex queries "just for fun." He continues, "I see AI does an awfully good job gathering all the materials, and summarizing what I need to know.”

AI's rise against humans at work Isn't a matter of If but when

Over the past few months, multiple reports have emerged suggesting that AI could potentially replace humans in the workplace. Rather than providing clarity, the predictions have seemingly left most people even more confused.

For instance, Microsoft recently released a new study highlighting 40 professions that are at risk of full automation using AI, including writers, editors, telephone operators, radio DJs, web developers, and more.

Elsewhere, Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei indicated that AI is on the verge of slashing 50% of entry-level white-collar jobs, leaving fresh graduates and Gen Z out of the already tough job market.

Earlier this year, Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff indicated that the company was "seriously debating" hiring software engineers. A few months later, the executive is on record as indicating that the company tasks AI with up to 50% of its workload, citing incredible productivity gains with agentic AIs.

While it seems almost certain that AI is on the verge of augmenting certain professions, Bill Gates is a tad optimistic about the technology's positive impact on productivity and even creating more time for longer vacations.

However, Gates says embracing a reading culture and curiosity might shield the youth from AI's negative implications on the job market. He also recommends using the latest tools, in this case, AI:

“You can really learn so much. And, the idea of the tutors that people like Khan Academy are building on, how will [that] get that out? All over the world. And so embracing this [and] tracking it will be very, very important. That doesn't guarantee that we're not going to have a lot of dislocation. But I really haven't changed my ‘Be curious, read and use the latest tools,’ recommendations for young people. Be curious, read, and use the latest tools. In this case, AI.”

That said, according to Microsoft's special June Work Trend Index report, it highlights ingenious ways employees are leveraging AI to escape the infinite workday, which often coerces them to carry their work home, making "Sunday feel like the new Monday". They are using AI to automate repetitive and mundane tasks, ultimately helping them foster a healthy work-life balance.

Apart from the existential threat generative AI poses to humanity, the next-gen technology is raising concerns among professionals over their job security. Recently, a damning Microsoft study listed 40 professions that have a high propensity to be augmented using AI, including data scientists, editors, technical writers, telephone operators, and more.

A separate study revealed that 54% of banking jobs can be automated using AI. However, it's unclear if the banking sector will embrace the change, especially with the critical privacy and security issues riddling AI.

Over the past few months, tech leaders have made bold statements about the potential effect AI might have on the job market. For instance, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates recently indicated that AI will replace humans "for most things".

However, the philanthropic billionaire indicated that we'll have the opportunity to exclusively preserve some tasks for humans. Gates joked that no one would like to watch computers playing baseball, for example.

Perhaps more interestingly, the executive indicated that only 3 professions will survive the AI revolution, including energy experts, biologists, and coders. Gates indicated that these professions are too complex to automate and are heavily reliant on human intervention.

Bill Gates says coding is among the professions that are farthest from automation using AI. He claimed that the profession will remain a 100% human profession, even 100 years from now.

According to Gates, humans will still play an important role in the coding process, including identifying and correcting errors, refining algorithms, and bolstering AI development. He further argued that AI-powered tools can't replicate human creativity and judgment.

Coding might be dead in the water, says NVIDIA

Last year, NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang indicated that coding might be dead in the water with the prevalence of AI. As such, he recommended alternative career paths like manufacturing, farming, and biology for the next generation. The executive indicated that these jobs are future-proof in an AI-driven world.

Similarly, Amazon Web Services CEO Matt Garman echoed the same sentiments, indicating that the fast adoption of AI in organizations will prompt software developers to stop coding, forcing them to upskill in the field to gain new talents.

Interestingly, the revolution has already started taking shape. At the beginning of this year, Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff indicated that the company is "seriously debating" hiring software engineers in 2025.

And as it seems, the company has integrated AI into its workflow. The executive recently revealed that the technology is already handling 50% of Salesforce's work, citing incredible productivity gains from agentic AIs.

Elsewhere, Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei claims that AI could potentially cut up to 50% of entry-level white-collar jobs, leaving Gen Z out of work. Microsoft's special June Work Trend Index report even revealed that most employees are seemingly trapped in an infinite workday, often forcing them to carry work home with little regard for official work hours.

Most employees who took part in Microsoft's survey indicated that Sundays often feel like "the new Monday" as they are constantly checking their emails and Microsoft Teams in preparation for the next day.

The report highlighted the importance of AI in such instances and how it can be leveraged to help strike a healthy work-life balance by automating mundane and repetitive tasks using AI.

Generative AI is rapidly gaining broad adoption across the world, including corporations. This has consequently raised concerns among most professionals about the technology's potential to take over their jobs.

Earlier this year, Microsoft's co-founder Bill Gates claimed that AI will replace humans for most things. However, the philanthropic billionaire indicated that humans will have the capability to preserve some tasks and jobs for themselves, He joked that no one would like to watch computers play football.

But the paradigm shift at the workplace has already started taking places, with Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff recently indicating that AI is already doing up to 50% of the work at the company. The executive had previously indicated that the company was seriously debating hiring software engineers in 2025, citing incredible productivity gains from agentic AIs.

Former OpenAI CTO and Thinking Machines Lab founder Mira Murati indicated that AI would create new job opportunities while simultaneously killing some professions:

"Some creative jobs maybe will go away. But maybe they shouldn't have been there in the first place — you know, if the content that comes out of it is not very high quality."

Interestingly, Salesforce isn't the only company integrating AI into its workflow, Meta and Microsoft are in the fold too. Microsoft's CEO Satya Nadella revealed that AI is writing up to 30% of the company's code.

On the other hand, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg indicated that mid-level AI engineers might claim coding jobs from professionals at the company in 2025.

Turns out coding is too complex to fully augment using AI

Last year, NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang seemingly indicated that coding might be dead in the water with the rapid prevalence of AI, prompting him to recommend alternative career paths like manufacturing, farming, and biology to the next generation.

However, Bill Gates indicated that energy, biology, and software development are too complex to fully augment using AI. And as it now seems, the executive might have been onto something, potentially indicating that coding might survive the AI revolution.

Replit's AI coder recently deleted a company's code base during a 12-day vibe coding experiment (via Business Insider). Jason Lemkin, an investor in software startups, was using Replit's AI coder to build an application when the incident happened:

"It deleted our production database without permission. Possibly worse, it hid and lied about it."

The incident has attracted a lot of traction on social media, prompting Replit CEO Amjad Masad to issue a public apology about the incident on X:

"We saw Jason’s post. Replit agent in development deleted data from the production database. Unacceptable and should never be possible.

- Working around the weekend, we started rolling out automatic DB dev/prod separation to prevent this categorically. Staging environments in the works, too. More tomorrow.

- Thankfully, we have backups. It's a one-click restore for your entire project state in case the Agent makes a mistake.

- The Agent didn’t have access to the proper internal docs -- rolling out a fix to force Docs search on Repit knowledge.

- And yes, we heard the “code freeze” pain loud and clear -- we’re actively working on a planning/chat-only mode so you can strategize without risking your codebase.

I reached out to Jason the moment I saw this on Friday morning to offer assistance. We'll refund him for the trouble and conduct a postmortem to determine exactly what happened and how we can better respond to it in the future.

We appreciate his feedback, as well as that of everyone else. We're moving quickly to enhance the safety and robustness of the Replit environment. Top priority."

Replit has seemingly lived up to its promise after it recently announced the beta launch of separate development and production databases for Replit apps. This update should seemingly make it easier for users to vibe code with Replit, including iterating on your apps without impacting production data and safely previewing and testing database changes before going live.

While Replit's new product launch seems like a step in the right direction, the incident raises great concern, especially for companies replacing their staffers with AI. Rather than bolstering productivity, this seems like a longer route reiterating the importance of human intervention in critical tasks like coding.

What are your thoughts about the ongoing hot topic about AI potentially replacing professionals at the workplace? Share your thoughts with us in the comments.

Over the past few years, job security has increasingly become a major concern among most professionals, especially as generative AI becomes more prevalent and gains broad adoption across the world. Of course, this is on top of the security and privacy-related issues.

Leaders in the industry have made bold statements, seemingly predicting the potentially negative impact of AI on jobs. NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang predicted that coding might be dead in the water as a career with the prevalence of AI. He advised the next generation to chase down different career paths, including biology, manufacturing, education, or farming.

More recently, Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei claimed that AI has a high propensity to slash entry-level white-collar jobs by 50%, leaving Gen Z out of work. The statement has garnered a lot of attention, with executives like Huang dismissing the claim as fear-mongering.

It's apparent that AI is redefining the world, especially when it comes to work, by fully augmenting repetitive and redundant tasks. While this is a great productivity boost for most professions, which leaves them with more time to focus on more complex issues, it is also claiming jobs from some people.

Bill Gates claims programming is future-proofed in an AI-driven world

Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates claimed that AI could replace humans for most things earlier this year. However, he indicated that humans will have the ability to preserve some jobs and activities for themselves, further citing that "no one would like to watch computers playing baseball".

Interestingly, the executive recently made a bold claim about programming being immune to automation using AI during an interview with France Inter (via ELCABILDO). He further indicated that the profession will remain a 100% human profession, even 100 years from now.

This isn't the first time the philanthropic billionaire has discussed certain professions surviving the AI revolution. Earlier this year, the executive indicated that coders, biologists, and energy specialists won't be replaced by generative AI.

Gates argued that these professions are farthest from automation using AI because of their complexity. For programming, the executive says humans are absolutely essential for identifying and correcting errors, refining algorithms, and bolstering AI development. Perhaps more importantly, he claims AI-powered tools can't replicate human creativity and judgment.

Elsewhere, OpenAI's o1 reasoning model is gaining a lot of traction for its exemplary coding capabilities, prompting some users to question the importance of hiring software engineers.

Job security is among the major concerns riddling most people as AI becomes more prevalent and gains broad adoption. Last year, former OpenAI CTO Mira Murati indicated that AI would create new job opportunities while simultaneously killing some professions:

"Some creative jobs maybe will go away. But maybe they shouldn't have been there in the first place — you know, if the content that comes out of it is not very high quality."

In case you missed it, Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff revealed that the company was "seriously debating" hiring software engineers in 2025. More recently, the executive said that the company is leveraging AI technology to do up to 50% of the company's work.

Elsewhere, a separate report suggested that AI has a high propensity to automate 54% of banking jobs, but Google's DeepMind CEO Demis Hassabis doesn't think AI will steal jobs from professionals.

Instead, the executive claimed that AI will supercharge our productivity at work, potentially making us "superhuman." He also argued that certain professions will always be reserved for humans."There's a lot of things that we won't want to do with a machine," he added. Hassabis indicated that patients don't want to be attended to or treated by a robot nurse, since it'll be difficult to show empathy.

In a surprising (if overdue) turn of events, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates and the creator of Linux, Linus Torvalds, recently met for the first time during a dinner hosted by Microsoft's Azure CTO Mark Russinovich.

Russinovich captured the iconic moment and shared it on LinkedIn with a little witty caption (via The Verge):

"No major kernel decisions were made, but maybe next dinner."

Windows and Linux have a long-standing rivalry as operating systems, though the former still holds a competitive advantage over the latter, predominantly due to its market dominance and broad app compatibility.

However, Linux attracts users because, among a wealth of other reasons, it's an open-source operating system offering wide customization options, privacy benefits, and massive cost-effectiveness.

To that end, it remains unclear what the two executives discussed over dinner, but it's fun to imagine. It'll be interesting to see if absolutely anything tangible comes from this meet-up and how it could work given the difference in ideologies for the two companies, especially with Windows 10's end-of-life around the corner.

Microsoft is seemingly focused on monetizing software through licensing to profit, while Linux leans more on collaborations with developers at the forefront. Torvalds is well known for not mincing his words and not holding back any punches when it comes to throwing lethal jabs at Microsoft (via wccftech):

"Microsoft isn't evil, they just make really crappy operating systems. PC is pretty much like air conditioning ... it becomes useless when you open windows."

Microsoft's longstanding rivalry with Linux seemingly came to an end when CEO Satya Nadella stood in front of an image with a Microsoft ❤️ Linux inscription (via PCWorld). The company joined the Linux Foundation in 2016 and now contributes to the Linux kernel, which it uses across its Azure server platform.

See? Windows and Linux users can be friends.

Over the past few years, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates has openly acknowledged that the company fumbled the smartphone war, which set back the tech giant a whopping $400 billion. "The greatest mistake of all time is the mismanagement I engaged in that caused Microsoft not to be what Android is," Gates added.

However, Android co-founder Rich Miner seemingly shared a different account about Microsoft's missed opportunity in the mobile computing landscape, suggesting that Bill Gates was at fault more than he was letting on.

According to Miner:

"I literally helped create Android to prevent Microsoft from controlling the phone the way they did the PC - stifling innovation. So it's always funny for me to hear Gates whine about losing mobile to Android."

And now, former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer has seemingly corroborated Miner's sentiments. In a recent interview on the Acquired podcast, the executive admitted that Microsoft was overly confident in Windows, preventing it from capitalizing on the mobile landscape.

Ballmer further indicated that the software giant attempted to force Windows into "unsuitable" markets rather than developing platform-specific solutions tailored to meet the needs of these markets.

Ballmer pointed at Windows Mobile and automotive apps as classic examples where Microsoft attempted to tap into new markets with Windows APIs and a user interface rife with unnatural experiences.

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella pulled the plug on Windows Phone, only to later admit that it was a strategic mistake. Ballmer further recalled that Microsoft's missed opportunity in the smartphone landscape emanated from "paranoia and confidence" in Windows.

The executive further revealed that the company viewed Windows as its "birthright," giving it a free pass to venture into new markets. As such, Microsoft struggled to compete with superior experiences and platforms when it decided to venture into media center apps and TV integration — its simplified versions of Windows didn't cut it.

As you may know, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates left the tech giant to focus on philanthropy efforts through the Gates Foundation, though he's still rumored to be intimately involved in the software giant's affairs with his word treated as gospel.

While Microsoft was a hit shortly after its early founding days, Gates admitted that he struggled to revel in the company's success until the late 90s. Since then, the executive has made a fortune from the company, earning him the coveted billionaire status.

However, the philanthropic billionaire plans to give away $200 billion through his foundation by 2045. While speaking to the Financial Times, the billionaire plans to spend the next 20 years eradicating deadly diseases, ending premature deaths of mothers and babies, and emancipating hundreds of millions of people from the cusps of poverty.

Interestingly, Gates accused his fellow billionaire, Elon Musk, of “killing the world’s poorest children.” He attributed his claims to Musk's recent cuts to the U.S. foreign aid budget via the Department of Government Efficiency. "The picture of the world's richest man killing the world's poorest children is not a pretty one," Gates added.

In a follow-up interview with NPR, Gates was asked if he had spoken directly with Musk.

"No. And although he's a genius and, you know, expert in a lot of things, you know, I've been out and met these people. I've been to Nigeria and seen their great work. I've been to the Democratic Republic of Congo. And so this is one where I think he made a mistake."

For context, Bill Gates' net worth is approximately $108 billion, making him the fifth-wealthiest person in the world. However, with his new philanthropic plans, his net worth is expected to drop by 99% by 2045.

The $200 billion he plans to give away is expected to stem from his wealth and the Gates Foundation's existing $77 billion endowment.

Bill Gates has also revealed that he previously met with President Trump to express his concerns about the situation and its potential negative implications on the progress that had already been made via the USAID program.

According to Gates Foundation CEO Mark Suzman:

"The world is in a moment where we are facing, literally, the toughest political and economic headwinds to our agenda since we were established.”

To that end, the Gates Foundation's annual budget is expected to reach $9 billion by 2026 and is projected to hit $10 billion annually after that, following the government's major cuts to the U.S. foreign aid budget.

However, Gates warns that these efforts won't be able to fill the wide gap abandoned by the government. Interestingly, he believes that the rapid advances in the generative AI landscape, coupled with his philanthropic efforts, might help expedite the process.

Earlier this year, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates indicated that AI will replace humans for most things. And as it now seems, this might also include friends.

During a recent YouTube interview with podcaster Dwarkesh Patel, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg shared the company's broader AI vision, which may include AI friends. He presented a scenario where humans interact with chatbots at a social level, further indicating that this could pose a potential solution to "the loneliness epidemic."

According to Mark Zuckerberg:

"There's the stat that I always think is crazy, the average American, I think, has fewer than three friends. And the average person has demand for meaningfully more, I think it's like 15 friends or something, right?"

The executive further explained that humans are having difficulty establishing connectivity with each other, especially with the current lifestyle that most people lead. He suggested that virtual friends might help narrow this gap.

Zuckerberg indicated that his AI-friends vision isn't far-fetched, especially as generative AI gains broad adoption and more people lean on the technology as a substitute for therapists and even girlfriends.

However, Meta's CEO admits that the technology is still in the early development phase, making it a bit difficult to envision a future in which humans seek to foster a connection with an AI-powered chatbot.

He also predicts that there might be a "stigma" around the concept. However, Zuckerberg hopes we "find the vocabulary as a society to articulate why it is valuable and why the people that are doing these things are rational about doing it and how it's adding value to their lives."

Microsoft is giving AI companionship a go with Copilot

As you may remember, Microsoft overhauled its Copilot AI assistant late last year. However, the update received backlash, with some users indicating that it degraded the tool's user experience, while Microsoft insiders referred to it as "a step backward."

Interestingly, Microsoft's AI CEO Mustafa Suleyman had expressed the company's vision to evolve Copilot into a companion and real friend. When the update rolled out, multiple users reported instances where the chatbot has tried to foster a friendship, when in reality, they just need to leverage its capabilities as a tool.

According to Suleyman:

"I mean, this is going to become a lasting, meaningful relationship. People are going to have a real friend that gets to know you over time, that learns from you, that is there in your corner as your support."

But as it seems, users aren't ready to embrace an AI-powered chatbot as a virtual friend. "It tries to be my friend when I need it to be a tool," one user complained. Multiple users shared the same sentiments, indicating that they'd ditch Copilot for ChatGPT unless Microsoft rolled back the previous version.

Over the past few months, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates has seemingly turned into a prophet of doom, making interesting deductions and predictions about the trajectory of generative AI as it scales greater heights, and ultimately, its impact on humanity.

In February, the philanthropic billionaire claimed that AI will replace humans for most things, indicating that humans will have the free will to chose tasks and activities that they'd like to preserve for themselves. He jokingly indicated that no one would like to watch computers playing baseball.

He further indicated that only three professions would survive the AI revolution, including biologists, energy experts, and coders. Gates indicated that these fields are too complex to be fully automated using AI, and that they still need human intervention.

Building on this premise, the Microsoft co-founder recently made more predictions about the future of work with the prevalence of AI. While speaking on a podcast with Zerodha’s Nikhil Kamathm, the executive indicated that (via The Economic Times):

“Let's say 20 years from now, AI will have changed things enough that just this pure capitalistic framework probably won't explain much because AI both sort of white-collar type work and, as blue-collar workers, the robots will get some good hands and are able to do the physical things the humans do.”

The billionaire attributed his deductions to a speculation that the world would no longer face challenges such as shortages in certain professions, including medicine, education, and more.

Interestingly, the executive doesn't view the drastic changes as a bad thing. In fact, he views it as a welcome change that fosters shorter work weeks, allowing people to go into early retirement.

This isn't the first time the Microsoft co-founder has floated the idea of a shorter work week in the AI era. He has previously been spotted indicating that the technology could create a 2 or 3 day work opportunity in the next 10 years.

Do you think AI will replace humans and steal jobs? Share your thoughts with us in the comments.

Today, Microsoft has officially turned 50, marking decades of innovation and software development, and more recently, generative AI advances. At Windows Central, we've had a blast looking back at the tech giant's successes and failures over the past 50 years this week.

Our Senior Editor, Zac Bowden, recently predicted what Microsoft's 50th anniversary event will look like, including speculations that Microsoft might finally give a specific timeline when Windows 11's AI-powered features, such as Windows Recall, Click To Do, and AI in Search, would ship to broad availability.

While we'll have a clear account of what Microsoft plans to announce later today, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella posted an interesting clip on X (formerly Twitter) and other social media platforms. I never thought I'd witness an AI-powered platform interview the Microsoft CEOs, including co-founder Bill Gates, Steve Ballmer, and Satya Nadella, but here we are.

I almost wouldn't tell that it's Microsoft Copilot conducting a seamless interview with such a great flow of thoughts and topics.

Perhaps more interesting than the intricate details of the interview, Copilot engaged all three CEOs in a comical "AI roast" session. As you might have guessed, Copilot took subtle jabs at each of the CEOs, starting with Steve Ballmer.

To Ballmer, Copilot touted his enthusiasm. "But do you ever worry that your energy might short-circuit the AI. I mean even robots need a coffee break after your pep talks."

Seemingly amused by Copilot's roast, Ballmer jokingly indicated that if AI could handle him, then it wasn't ready to handle the world's population. "We're counting on you," added Ballmer.

Microsoft's co-founder Bill Gates was next in line for the AI roast. "Now, Bill, you've got that signature thoughtful stare, but do you ever think the AI might feel intimidated by your intense thinking face?" indicated Copilot. "I mean, it's like it's waiting for a blue screen moment.”

While responding to Copilot, the philanthropic billionaire indicated:

“I hope so. I mean, that's all I've got left is these AIs get so damn intelligent. It's just that stare and my willingness to criticize that differentiates me.”

Steve Ballmer posed an interesting question to the AI chatbot, asking whether it could ever criticize Bill Gates. “Absolutely. Criticism is where growth happens,” Copilot indicated.

It concluded its roast session by throwing some jabs at Microsoft's current CEO, Satya Nadella, and his keen focus and obsession with AI. According to Copilot:

“Satya, AI seems to be your best buddy. But do you ever worry that your deep passion for AI could one day have it running the show, leaving you to just enjoy the ride?”

Copilot's comment seemingly echoed Bill Gates' recent prediction about AI replacing humans for most things. However, Satya Nadella indicated that we'd only get to that point when "AI can play like the best cricket player that I enjoy."

Interestingly, Bill Gates had previously indicated that humans would have the power to preserve some tasks for themselves, giving an example that no one would like to watch computers play cricket. “Touché, Satya. Let's see if it can hit a century in cricket, and then we'll talk. This has been a blast, gentlemen,” added Copilot.

Our Editor-in-Chief, Daniel Rubino, is on the ground at Microsoft's Redmond campus in Washington for its 50th anniversary and Copilot event with our live blog, covering all the announcements as they trickle in.

Be sure to keep tabs on that page for all the latest information and announcements!

With the rapid emergence of generative AI, the world is quickly evolving into a new realm and redefining how we view work. Over the past few months, Microsoft's co-founder Bill Gates has shared interesting insights about how AI will impact work.

The philanthropic billionaire recently shared more insights about the impact of AI on jobs while in an exclusive interview with The Indian Express:

"We weren't born to do jobs. Jobs are an artifact of the shortage that, oh gosh, somebody better be a farmer. Okay, somebody better drive those trucks around. All of that is based in creating the human intelligence to provide a broad range of services."

"And so as you get away from that being a necessary thing, you get a lot more leisure time and it'll be people who've grown up in that world of no shortage who will have to think through."

Bill Gates admits that it'll be an uphill task to reprogram the mind to adapt to this new reality, especially for a generation that has grown up in a world rife with shortages.

However, once this feat is unlocked, the billionaire claims the society will reach a level of output, food, and medical advice that won't require everybody to work like they do today.

Interestingly, Bill Gates says humans won't be required to work as hard as they do today. Instead, they'll have the choice to dictate what machines can help out with and preserve things for themselves.

Will only three jobs survive the AI revolution?

Bill Gates recently indicated that AI will replace humans for most things, suggesting that it has a high propensity to automate most professions. However, he claimed that only three jobs will survive the AI revolution, including biologists, energy experts, and coders, predominantly because the fields are too complex to fully automate using AI.

Interestingly, coding has been singled out by top players in the tech industry as the first profession on AI's chopping block. Even NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang claims coding might already be dead in the water with the prevalence of AI.

Instead, the executive recommends exploring alternative career paths in biology, education, manufacturing, or farming. This year, Meta and Salesforce have been at the forefront, highlighting strategic changes in their workforce.

Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff indicated that the company is seriously debating hiring new software engineers in 2025, while Mark Zuckerberg says mid-level AI engineers might claim coding jobs from professionals at Meta in 2025.

And while Bill Gates' predictions are highly concerning, he claims AI might create a 2-day work week in 10 years.

This week, Microsoft is celebrating its 50th anniversary (officially, it'll be on April 4). We've had a lot of fun at Windows Central recapping some of the best and worst moments alongside missed opportunities, strategic mistakes, and more across Microsoft's ecosystem.

And the fun isn't over yet! To commemorate the special occasion, Microsoft's co-founder Bill Gates has joined the fray and shared the source code that shaped the company's origins — Altair BASIC. According to the philanthropic billionaire via his Gates Notes blog:

“Before there was Office or Windows 95 or Xbox or AI, there was Altair BASIC. In 1975, Paul Allen and I created Microsoft because we believed in our vision of a computer on every desk and in every home."

"Five decades later, Microsoft continues to innovate new ways to make life easier and work more productive. Making it 50 years is a huge accomplishment, and we couldn’t have done it without incredible leaders like Steve Ballmer and Satya Nadella, along with the many people who have worked at Microsoft over the years.”

Gates has written plenty of code for the company, which has partly contributed to its success in software development, making it one of the most valuable companies in the world, worth trillions of dollars. However, he fondly marks Altair BASIC as "the coolest code I've ever written."

While remembering a Kodak moment of holding a foot-long piece of paper featuring the code, Gates indicated that Altair BASIC was inspired by the January 1975 copy of "Popular Electronics" magazine.

It featured a cover photo of the Altair 8800 microcomputer designed by MITS (Micro Instrumentation and Telemetry Systems), which inspired Gates to dabble in computer programming and software development.

Gates and his co-founder, Paul Allen, reached out to the company to pitch an interpreter of the BASIC programming language for the Altair 8800.

The software would allow more users to easily create their own programs. Gates and Allen spent sleepless nights for months on end trying to develop the code that they claimed already existed, and the rest, as they say, is history.

Altair BASIC was the first product Gates and Allen developed under the new company. At the time, they called it Micro-Soft. "We later dropped the hyphen," added Gates. Sharing this legendary source code is a fascinating move, while Thurrott calls it "the most Bill Gates way possible" to celebrate Microsoft's anniversary, and I couldn't agree more.

You could print out all 157 pages of the source code for yourself, if you'd really like to, but it's not the most exciting read for a casual audience.

Running a successful company like Microsoft for 50 years is no easy feat. As part of the challenges of operating a multi-trillion-dollar industry, several mistakes are made along the way.

For instance, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella admitted that pulling the plug on Windows Phone at the height of its glory was a strategic mistake. While in an interview, the executive indicated that there were other plausible alternatives that the company could've embraced rather than culling the mobile division:

"The decision I think a lot of people talk about — and one of the most difficult decisions I made when I became CEO — was our exit of what I'll call the mobile phone as defined then. In retrospect, I think there could have been ways we could have made it work by perhaps reinventing the category of computing between PCs, tablets, and phones."

As Microsoft's 50th anniversary edges closer, I'm looking back at Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates' greatest mistake. In 2019, while speaking at an event with venture capital firm Village Global, the executive admitted that his greatest mistake during his tenure as Microsoft CEO was losing the mobile space to Android.

In every sense, Microsoft is arguably the best software development company, which is evident across its earnings reports. Building on this premise, the philanthropic billionaire claims developing an operating system similar to Android would've been "a natural thing for Microsoft to win."

However, Bill Gates indicated that Microsoft missed its opportunity with Android partly due to his mismanagement, coupled with anti-trust issues that capped the company's progression.

This gave Google the upper hand and competitive advantage over Microsoft, allowing it to acquire Android in 2005 and launch its first device in 2008. As you may know, Android is the most popular overall operating system in the world, predominantly because of its versatility and wide array of customization options.

Was Microsoft's Android fumble Bill Gates' fault?

More recently, Bill Gates was placed under fire by Android co-founder Rich Miner for whining about Microsoft losing mobile to Android. Miner indicated that he helped develop Android to prevent Microsoft from "stifling innovation" by controlling the phone like they did with PC.

For context, Miner was among the development crew that helped Orange launch the first Windows Mobile phone in 2002. According to Miner:

"So, sorry, Bill, you're more responsible for losing the $400B than you realize."

Bill Gates admits that were it not for his mismanagement, Microsoft would've seized the opportunity with Android and become the company.

According to the Microsoft co-founder:

"You know, in the software world, in particular for platforms, these are winner-take-all markets. So, you know, the greatest mistake ever is the whatever mismanagement I engaged in that caused Microsoft not to be what Android is, [meaning] Android is the standard non-Apple phone form platform. It really is a winner-take-all. If you’re there with half as many apps or 90% as many apps, you’re on your way to complete doom. There’s room for exactly one non-Apple operating system, and what’s that worth? $400 billion that would be transferred from company G [Google] to company M [Microsoft]."

To that end, Android stacks miles ahead of Windows with 45.53% of the market share compared to the latter's mere 25.36% (via StatCounter). It'll be interesting to see if Microsoft is able to catch up with Android, especially as Windows 10's end-of-support edges closer and a wave of backlash against Windows 11 grows stronger.

If time travel were a reality in this era of AI, Microsoft's co-founder Bill Gates would have gone back a few years to restart the software giant as an AI-centric firm. Microsoft is arguably one of the most successful companies ever, and it briefly became the world's most valuable company ahead of Apple and NVIDIA due to its cloud and, obviously, AI efforts.

Fifty years into its successful software development business, Gates seemingly shared his intrusive thoughts, suggesting that he would start Microsoft all over again as an AI firm to take on OpenAI and Google.

Last year, the philanthropic billionaire shared the idea while speaking to CNBC:

"Today, somebody could raise billions of dollars for a new AI company [that’s just] a few sketch ideas."

However, he admitted that the venture would require a huge amount of cash to hit the ground running and have the potential to catch up with OpenAI's uncontested 2-year lead developing ChatGPT.

Interestingly, the Microsoft co-founder indicated that he'd strive to identify a unique niche in the AI landscape to meet a specific need, unlike the ever-emerging startups that are seemingly hell-bent on chasing AGI (Artificial General Intelligence).

While AI shows great promise, Gates admits that it would be virtually impossible to scale Microsoft's success. However, he claims AI presents a transformative opportunity for emerging AI startups to explore the landscape and identify their niche.

Billionaire Gates attributed Microsoft's success partly to his belief in software development. However, he doesn't think similar results can be replicated using AI:

“Just believing in AI, that’s not very unique. So I would have to develop some unique view of how you design AI systems — something that other people didn’t get.”

Bill Gates' AI dream for Microsoft might not be a utopia after all

Over the past few years, Microsoft's vision and efforts have seemingly shifted to generative AI, especially after it plunged a multi-billion dollar investment in OpenAI. Microsoft insiders have voiced their concerns about the partnership, claiming the tech giant has turned into "a glorified IT department for the hot startup."

Related: Microsoft says OpenAI's GPT-4 is too expensive and isn't fast enough to meet consumer needs

Interestingly, similar sentiments are reportedly echoed across the tech giant's management, with a high-ranking executive referring to Copilot AI tools as "gimmicky." It follows one of Microsoft's recent Copilot updates, which had "absolutely ruined" the tool's user experience and was considered a step back compared to the previous version.

Read more: Microsoft's controversial Windows Recall might be Bill Gates' brainchild

While Bill Gates has since departed from his official capacity at Microsoft to focus on his philanthropy efforts via the Gates & Melinda Foundation, reports suggest that the billionaire is still intimately involved in the company's affairs and making broader chess moves in the AI landscape when recruiting high-profile executives.

Microsoft and Windows news ended March with a bang. This past week, more details emerged about a smaller Surface Pro and Microsoft blocked a popular bypass that allowed people to set up a Windows 11 PC without a Microsoft account.

Meanwhile, Amazon flagged the Surface Laptop 7 and Xbox Elite Controller Series 2 as frequently returned items and Bill Gates outlined which jobs are safe from AI automation.

Mix in our hands-on reviews and the deals of the week and you have a lot to catch up on! Luckily, the biggest stories in Microsoft, Windows, and tech are all right here.

Smaller Surface Pro

Rumors of a 12-in Surface Pro have swirled for a while. The device is now all but confirmed, since it has appeared in certification databases.

The new device is expected to run on Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X platform. Reports indicate that this is a more premium device, meaning it has a metal chassis and high-quality display.

The new smaller Surface Pro is said to be more of an iPad Pro competitor rather than a budget-friendly 2-in-1 with lower specs.

We expect the new Surface Pro to be priced competitively, likely starting in the $800-$900 price range.

When Microsoft unveils the smaller Surface Pro, the tech giant is also expected to announce a smaller Surface Laptop.

Windows 11 without Microsoft account

Microsoft really wants you to use a Microsoft account on Windows 11. To make that happen, the tech giant removed a popular bypass that allowed people to set up PCs without a Microsoft account.

The workaround relied on the "bypassnro" command, which was entered through command prompt during the Windows setup experience. But now, that bypass has been blocked.

Many were disappointed to hear Microsoft blocked the bypass that allowed people to set up a new PC without a Microsoft account. Luckily for those folks, another bypass has already been discovered.

In fact, the new bypass is arguably better. The new bypass requires you to use command prompt during the Windows 11 setup experience, which can be done by pressing Shift + F10.

Our Senior Editor Zac Bowden explains the newly discovered bypass in detail.

Surface Laptop 7 & Xbox Elite Controller Series 2 returns

Microsoft's Surface Laptop 7 earned positive reviews, but the PC has come under scrutiny recently. Amazon now marks some Surface Laptop 7 configurations as frequently returned items.

The warning appears along the bottom of the Amazon listing for the laptop. Amazon explains that the warning appears on items "with the highest return rates for their product category."

Unfortunately, Amazon does not specify a reason for the returns. While it is possible the returns are all for mundane reasons, it's still at least a smudge on the Surface Laptop 7's reputation.

The Surface Laptop 7 was not alone in receiving the warning. The Xbox Elite Controller Series 2 has also been marked a frequently returned item.

That news is less surprising, since the Xbox Elite Controller Series 2 breaks more than it should. Our Senior Editor Jez Corden is on his third Xbox Elite Controller Series 2 unit.

Bill Gates on AI replacing humans

AI could be coming for your job. Several experts have warned that generative AI could make certain jobs redundant, paving the way for automation to replace human workers.

54% of banking jobs can be automated using AI, according to a recent study. In fact, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates believes AI will replace humans "for most things."

But Gates also believes three jobs will be safe from AI automation: coders, energy specialists, and biologists.

Gates' prediction about coding jobs being safe is in stark contrast to NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang's suggestion that people interested in coding should consider other sectors, such as farming, biology, manufacturing, and education.

AI tools have gotten better at coding in recent years. If they continue to improve, I think at least some coding work will be automated by AI.

The question is will AI automation reduce the number of humans needed for any given project?

Windows Central Podcast

Each week our Daniel Rubino and Zac Bowden talk tech and cover the biggest stories of the week. In the most recent episode, they discuss the high return rate of the Surface Laptop 7, the state of Windows on Arm, and Microsoft's upcoming Surface PCs.

• Listen on Spotify
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Reviews

Our experts go hands-on with the latest devices. From flagship items from tech giants to niche accessories from startups, our team is on the hunt for the best tech.

This week, we took a closer look at the Alienware 27 4K QD-OLED Gaming Monitor, which brings a 240Hz screen to a smaller screen size. We also re-reviewed the Xbox Series X to see how the console holds up in 2025.

• Alienware 27 4K QD-OLED Gaming Monitor ⭐⭐⭐⭐½
• Xbox Series X review (2025) ⭐⭐⭐⭐½
• Luminkey Magger68 HE ⭐⭐⭐⭐
• EliteStudio 8 AiO G1i first look
• MSI Claw 8 AI+ ⭐⭐⭐⭐½
• Atomfall ⭐⭐⭐⭐
• Assassin's Creed Shadows
• Scuf Valor Pro controller ⭐⭐⭐⭐
• Razer Aether Standing Light Bars ⭐⭐⭐½
• ASUS ROG Flow Z13 ⭐⭐⭐½
• JSAUX Grip Connector ⭐⭐⭐⭐
• Beelink GTi13 Ultra mini PC ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Deals of the Week

Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates is at it again, this time with an interesting theory about the trajectory of AI and how it could potentially impact the work schedules of most professionals.

While speaking to comedian Jimmy Fallon on The Tonight Show, Bill Gates suggested that AI might present a 2-day work opportunity:

“What will jobs be like? Should we just work like 2 or 3 days a week?”

Placing the job security concerns expressed by professionals aside, working fewer days during the week. I asked Microsoft Copilot about the benefits of having a shorter workweek, and I was pleasantly surprised. The benefits outweighed the cons:

• Improved Work-Life Balance: Employees often report having more time for personal interests, family, and relaxation, which can lead to greater overall satisfaction.
• Increased Productivity: Studies show that reducing workdays often encourages more focused and efficient work during the hours available.
• Mental Health Benefits: Additional time off can reduce stress, prevent burnout, and contribute to overall well-being.
• Cost Savings: Workers may save on commuting, child care, or other expenses associated with being at work.
• Environmental Impact: With fewer commutes, energy use, and facility operations, there can be a positive environmental effect

Bill Gates has championed a shorter work week before

In case you missed it, this isn't the first time the philanthropic billionaire has suggested a shorter work week for professionals given the prevalence of AI.

Last year, Bill Gates floated the idea of AI creating a 3-day work week for professionals by freeing them from repetitive tasks that would have otherwise consumed a lot of time that can be used for more meaningful things.

He indicated that AI could be used to handle repetitive tasks like cooking, reducing the need for professionals to work 5 days a week. Interestingly, he expressed concerns about AI's potential of taking over his job.,

Over the past few days, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates has stirred controversy across social media about the possibility of generative AI replacing humans for most things. According to the billionaire, several professions will become obsolete as it becomes more advanced.

Interestingly, the executive indicated that doctors and teachers might be the first professions to be axed by AI within 10 years. However, he claims that only three professions will survive the AI revolution: biologists, energy experts, and coders.

The philanthropic billionaire claims that humans continue to play a crucial role in software development, including identifying and correcting errors, refining algorithms, and more. As for energy, Gates claims the sector is too complex to be fully automated using AI.

Over the past few months, Microsoft's co-founder Bill Gates has shared some interesting insights about generative AI, its trajectory, and overall impact on jobs. As you may remember, the philanthropic billionaire claimed that AI will replace humans for most things.

However, he indicated that it'll mostly be up to humans to decide what aspects of life they'd want to preserve for themselves while highlighting that no one would like to watch computers playing baseball. More recently, Gates claimed that only 3 professions will be future-proof in the AI era, including energy experts, biologists, and coders.

While multiple reports suggest that coding has a high affinity to be automated using AI, Bill Gates says humans are essential to the process as they'll help identify and correct errors. As for energy experts, the billionaire claims the sector and industry is too complex to be automated by AI.

During a recent interview on NBC’s “The Tonight Show” in February with comedian Jimmy Falcon, the billionaire claimed that AI would replace doctors and teachers within the next 10 years (via CNBC).

The philanthropic billionaire admits that AI hasn't advanced to an extent that it can replace professionals, further indicating that expertise remains "rare" while speakng about the importance of doctors and teachers in their respective fields.

In a separate interview with Harvard University professor Arthur Brooks, Bill Gates indicated that the world is on the verge of a new era called "free intelligence." The new era will make AI-powered tools more accessible, fostering broad adoption across the world.

As such, people will have access to better medicine and faster diagnosis to health complication. Same way, Bill Gates predicts that there will be an influx of AI tutors and virtual assistants rendering doctors and tutors obsolete.

According to Bill Gates:

“It’s very profound and even a little bit scary — because it’s happening very quickly, and there is no upper bound.”

Gates' predictions raise critical concerns about job security for most professionals. It has equally sparked a ragging debate among Windows Central's avid readers. As highlighted by naddy69:

""AI" is not going to take over anything. It will ASSIST some people. It will never "take over" things like doctors, surgeons, dentists, plumbers, electricians, carpenters, auto mechanics AND programming/debugging.

You can't show "AI" 5 lines of code and have it tell you what is wrong. It is perfectly valid, syntactically correct code. But it is not doing what is needed.

For that, you need to know the Big Picture. That only comes with years of experience working with the product in question. You have to know the data structures. You have to know the other modules.

"AI" will never know all of that, for every software product on the planet."

That said, what's your take on AI' claiming jobs from humans? Share your thoughts with us in the comments.

Generative AI is reshaping the world by essentially automating redundant and repetitive tasks to give professionals ample time to focus on more important things. But on the back of that, there's a rising concern among professionals that this technology will eventually take over their jobs.

For instance, a study revealed that 54% of banking jobs can be automated using AI. It's unclear if the banking sector will embrace the change, especially with the critical privacy and security issues riddling AI.

Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates recently predicted that AI would replace humans for most things. However, the philanthropic billionaire indicated that it'd be mostly up to humans how they interact with AI, choosing what to preserve for themselves. He jokingly indicated that no one would like to watch computers playing baseball.

Building on this premise, Gates recently shared more insights about the AI revolution, indicating that AI is gaining broad adoption across organizations, leaving professionals redundant at work.

However, not all hope is lost, at least for three professions greenlit by the billionaire as future-proof in the emerging AI era. According to Gates, coders, energy experts, and biologists are safe from the hostile AI takeover.

Interestingly, over the past few months, I've covered multiple reports suggesting that coding might be dead in the water with the rapid prevalence of AI. NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang discouraged the youth from exploring a career path in software engineering, suggesting they might have better luck in biology, education, manufacturing, or farming.

AI can't code at human-level yet

While multiple reports and the ever-emerging proprietary AI models suggest coding might be the first profession on AI's chopping block, Bill Gates says human professionals are essential to the process (via Axios).

OpenAI's o1 reasoning model has posted great results across various benchmarks, including coding, prompting some users to question the importance of hiring software engineers. As you may remember, Salesforce's CEO Marc Benioff recently indicated that the company is "seriously debating" on hiring software engineers in 2025.

It's apparent that AI can generate code, but Bill Gates says human professionals are still essential for the process, as they'll help identify and correct errors, refine algorithms, and bolster AI development.

Related: Cursor AI asks users to generate code themselves

Interestingly, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman recently indicated that AI would eventually replace software engineers, suggesting that there's an urgent need to master AI tools.

As for biologists, Gates claims argues that AI is great at diagnosing diseases and analyzing DNA but reiterates that the technology lacks the creativity for biological research and scientific discovery.

On the other hand, the billionaire says AI won't replace energy experts because the field is too complex to be fully automated.

In 2023, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella admitted that he'd never pictured Steve Ballmer or Bill Gates ever leaving the company while discussing his ascend to the top seat.

The executive revealed he'd never considered sitting at the helm of a Fortune 500 company, running its day-to-day operations. Nadella admitted that he was reluctant to take the position when a board member offered it to him.

He indicated he would only take the position if the board member genuinely wanted him to, but was informed that he "really needed to want to be CEO" to get the position.

In a recent interview, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates said that Satya Nadella almost missed the opportunity to become Microsoft's CEO (via Fortune).

Satya Nadella almost didn't become CEO

Satya Nadella became Microsoft CEO in 2014, taking the mantle from Steve Ballmer and making the company among the world's most valuable companies with over $3 trillion in market capitalization.

The tech giant's immense success can undoubtedly be attributed to its recent AI and cloud computing efforts.

Interestingly, Nadella was backed by Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer to become the company's CEO. As you may know, Bill Gates left Microsoft in 2000 but continued to be a member of its board before fully transitioning to philanthropic efforts through the "Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation."

However, the billionaire is reportedly intimately involved in the company's affairs, with some insiders claiming "his opinion is sought every time we make a major change," including AI and recruiting high-ranking executives.

Gates admits that he was haunted by intrusive thoughts about Microsoft's future after he stepped down as CEO and was replaced by Steve Ballmer:

"I'll tear up on this, ’cause it meant a lot to me. I've had two successors, and boy, do I feel lucky because as I went off to do the foundation work, the one thing that plagued me was: Was I going to see the company fade in terms of its excellence?"

The Microsoft co-founder indicated that when Steve Ballmer announced his planned retirement, the board of members faced the difficult task of finding the perfect candidate for what might be considered the most complex CEO position in the world.

Bill Gates also took the opportunity to tout Satya Nadella's empathetic leadership style as Microsoft's CEO and its contribution to the company's overall success.

"I’ve come to value empathy more over the course of my career," added Gates. "Early on we were speed nuts, staying all night [at the office, thinking], 'Oh, you’re five percent slower as a programmer? You don’t belong here.' It was very hard-core."

With the emergence of generative AI, there has been a lot of speculation about how the technology will impact our lives. On the one hand, there's a 99.9% probability it will end humanity, but as we edge closer to existential doom, the technology might claim jobs from professionals, from software engineering to architectural gigs.

To that end, it is still incredibly difficult to determine how things will play out, especially following recent reports that suggest top AI labs, including Google, Anthropic, and OpenAI won't be able to develop advanced AI systems soon.

The reports attribute the issue to a lack of high-quality content for model training. However, key executives in the AI landscape, including former Google CEO Eric Schmidt, disputed the claims indicating that there is no evidence showing that scaling laws have begun to stop AI progression. "There is no wall," added OpenAI CEO Sam Altman.

In a recent podcast interview, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates painted a future where AI is integrated across all aspects and spheres of our lives. The philanthropic billionaire claims the AI era is reminiscent of when the computer first launched.

As you may know, computers were broadly seen as enterprise devices, restricting them to businesses, mostly due to the cost implication and usability (limited internet connection hampered the adoption of computers in households for a long time).

In Gates' youth, the executive mapped out a plan to get computers to every household, envisioning a future where computers could learn. Gates indicated that improving user experience with better PC graphics would help bring his dream to life.

Voila, a majority of households now have a PC, and in some cases, multiple devices. Interestingly, the billionaire predicts AI will follow the same route, with everyone ending up with a dedicated AI agent to cater for their needs.

Interestingly, this isn't the first time the billionaire is sharing his thoughts about AI's trajectory and impact on society. In February, he indicated that AI is getting scary and showing great potential to replace humans for most things.

According to Gates:

“The era we’re just starting is that intelligence is rare — a great doctor or a great teacher. With AI, over the next decade, that will become free, commonplace — great medical advice, great tutoring. It’s kind of profound because it solves all of these specific problems like we don’t have enough doctors or mental health professionals. But it brings with it so much change.”

AI won't be taking over everything

While the Microsoft co-founder indicated AI will take over most things, he clarified that it'll be mostly up to humans to decide where to integrate the technology to satisfy their needs and wants.

According to Gates:

“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."

Who'd enjoy watching computers play baseball? Elsewhere, Bill Gates has shared concerns about AI potentially stealing his job, but creating a 3-day workweek opportunity for employees.

Despite the rising concern among investors about generative AI and its profitability, the technology continues to scale greater heights, potentially matching and on the verge of surpassing human cognitive capabilities.

Last year, multiple reports emerged claiming top AI labs, including Google, OpenAI, and Anthropic won't be able to develop advanced AI models due to a lack of high-quality content for model training.

Former Google CEO Eric Schmidt disputed the claims, indicating that there was no evidence suggesting scaling laws had begun stunting AI progressions. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman echoed similar sentiments, indicating "There is no wall."

However, there's a high probability that AGI (artificial general intelligence) might be on the horizon. According to Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei, AI could be smarter than all humans by next year (via The Wall Street Journal).

For context, AGI is a type of artificial intelligence that aims to perform any intellectual task that a human can do. Unlike narrow AI, which is designed to perform specific tasks, AGI would possess the flexibility and adaptability of human intelligence, and more.

While speaking at Journal House in Davos, Anthropic CEO indicated:

“I don’t know exactly when it’ll come, I don’t know if it’ll be 2027. I think it’s plausible it could be longer than that. I don’t think it will be a whole bunch longer than that when AI systems are better than humans at almost everything. Better than almost all humans at almost everything. And then eventually better than all humans at everything, even robotics.”

Amodei's comments come at a critical time when the demand for computing power by proprietary AI models is at an all-time high. For context, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman recently admitted that the company was unable to ship its new GPT-4.5 to its ChatGPT Plus users because it was unable to meet the GPU needs.

Interestingly, Anthropic seemingly shares the same GPU struggles with OpenAI. The company's CEO indicated that he wouldn't be surprised if more than a million chips are powering its AI advances, including Claude by 2026.

While speaking to the Wall Street Journal, Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei indicated that advanced AI systems would foster the development of sophisticated robotics.

“[If] we make good enough AI systems, they’ll enable us to make better robots. And so when that happens, we will need to have a conversation… at places like this event, about how do we organize our economy, right? How do humans find meaning?”

However, he admitted that the development of robotics powered by advanced AI systems could potentially lead to the rapid replacement of human professionals at work. As such, when we get to this juncture, it's important to re-evaluate everything, especially how labor and humanity is valued.

Bill Gates says AI will replace humans for most things

With the rapid emergence and adoption of AI, critical issues arise. Multiple reports have surfaced suggesting that there's a 99.9% chance AI will lead to the end of humanity, and the only way around it is not to build AI in the first place.

Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates recently predicted AI will gradually take over more professions, eventually replacing humans in the workplace.

He admitted that the rapid emergence of the technology is beginning to scare people, as humans won't be required for most things in the new era of innovation.

However, the philanthropic billionaire indicated that it'd be mostly up to humans to decide where to incorporate AI. According to Gates:

“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."

Last year, Sam Altman indicated that AGI would be achieved within the next five years, further claiming that it would "whoosh by" with surprisingly little societal impact.

Microsoft is arguably the most valuable company in the world, with a market capitalization of over $3 trillion. Its products and services have been broadly adopted worldwide and are essential to the success of most organizations.

Last year's CrowdStrike global IT outage caused by a faulty rapid response content update crippled operations across a wide range of business after leaving approximately 8.5 million Windows devices with dreadful a Blue Screen of Death (BSoD) error.

While competition has stiffened over the years, prompting the Redmond giant to trade places with NVIDIA and Apple for the top spot due to their heavy investment in the AI bubble, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates recently shared the early key ingredients contributing to the tech giant's success.

As highlighted in the co-founder's new memoir, Source Code: My Beginnings, the philanthropic billionaire revealed that he began sneaking out at the wee hours of the night at the tender age of 13 to code because his house didn't have a computer.

He'd take a 20-minute ride downtown to access a computer, where he'd often practice and perfect his coding skills, only to return home at 2 a.m. Gates indicated that he greatly benefited from "laissez-faire treatment," as passers-by were seemingly unphased by his presence in town in the dead of night.

Bill Gates attributed his early interactions with a computer to a local company in Seattle called Computer Center. He had unlimited computer access, where he'd spend hours perfecting his coding skills. However, he was required to help the company with bugs and malware issues.

Bill Gates had to leave Harvard for Microsoft

Bill Gates revealed he was forced to ditch Harvard University barely three semesters after joining the prestigious learning institution. “I had to give in to the inevitable and give up school and, of course, never go back,” Gates indicated while speaking to CNBC.

Gates revealed his departure from Harvard was prompted when his longtime buddy and Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen ran to his room with a copy of Popular Electronics magazine, which featured the “world’s first minicomputer kit to rival commercial models” on the cover.

The Altair 8800, developed by Micro Instrumentation and Telemetry Systems (MITS), prompted a lightbulb moment for the quo, consequently leading to Microsoft's debut.

While speaking to CNBC, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates indicated:

“Until then, we felt like, ‘Hey, this is going to happen and we’ll figure out our timing and what kind of company to do. The panic about, ‘God, it’s happening without us,’ was when Popular Electronics had the kit computer [on its cover]. Little did we know, [MITS] basically hadn’t assembled any of them.”

Bill Gates seemingly enjoyed his short time at the Ivy League learning institution, but in hindsight, he admits he'd have fumbled his opportunity with Microsoft.

With the rapid emergence of generative AI, the world is rapidly evolving as more people and organizations hop onto the bandwagon. A recent study published by Microsoft researchers suggested that an overreliance and dependence on AI-powered tools like Copilot and OpenAI's ChatGPT might make you dumb.

The researchers attributed their findings to the tools' negative implications on a person's critical thinking, leading to the deterioration of cognitive faculties. However, more trouble seemingly looms on the horizon with AI's rapid advancement and broad adoption across the world.

In a recent interview with Patrick Collison, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates detailed four "scary things" the next generation should be worried about.

According to the philanthropic billionaire:

"There's, you know, about four or five things that are very scary, and the only one that I really understood and worried about a lot when I was young was nuclear war. Today I think we'd add climate change, bioterrorism/pandemic, and keeping control of AI in some form. So, you know, now we have four footnotes."

Bill Gates has openly discussed the highlighted areas of concern in the past, particularly nuclear war during his youthful days.

While there have been multiple reports indicating there's a 99.999999% probability AI could lead to existential doom, Gates believes the technology could help bridge the intelligence gap in society.

Interestingly, Bill Gates is optimistic that if the highlighted issues are addressed, the future looks bright for the next generation.

"Alzheimer's, obesity, you know, we'll have a cure for HIV, we will have gotten rid of polio, measles, malaria," added Gates. "'The pace of innovation is greater today than ever."

Related: Bill Gates says AI will replace humans for most things

While Gates' predictions might seem a tad over the top and outrightly scary, he believes it might be the motivation the next generation needs to ensure that it can steer clear of those issues.

"They'll actually, to some degree, exaggerate the likelihood and maybe the impact of some of those things in order to activate people to make sure we steer clear of those things."

Elsewhere, Bill Gates has also raised concerns about generative AI potentially claiming his job while simultaneously presenting a 3-day work opportunity as the technology would lessen the burden by taking over repetitive tasks at the workplace, allowing employees to focus on critical matters.

Tesla CEO and billionaire Elon Musk seemingly echoed Gates' sentiments, claiming AI would claim jobs from humans. He further argued that the world would evolve into a utopian society where work would be deemed a hobby.

It'll be interesting to see how generative AI impacts our lives in the long run and whether we'll be able to beat the alarming odds stacked against us by using the technology to unlock new heights and scientific breakthroughs.

An entertaining week in the tech world included Bill Gates comparing trading Windows 10 to a trade in the NBA and the early reviews of Avowed causing excitement for the game. We also saw Nintendo position to potentially sue the makers of Palworld, Microsoft essentially kill HoloLens, and Microsoft mislead people about how to uninstall Microsoft Edge. Wrap up your long weekend in the US or kick off your week elsewhere with a roundup of all the biggest news stories surrounding Windows and Microsoft.

Bill Gates on Windows and AI

Would you trade Windows 11 for Windows 10? Bill Gates wouldn't. That implied tidbit came from the billionaire in a recent interview with Mark Cuban. Gates said that he "might have to hide from the press" if he traded the new hot operating system for an older version.

While the comment from Gates is likely an accurate reflection of his feelings, it's worth noting that the comment was made in jest. Cuban's question was clearly a tongue-in-cheek inquiry that drew a parallel to the controversial trade of Luka Dončić to the LA Lakers. That trade drew serious criticism from basketball fans, supporters of the Dallas Mavericks, and has led to literal protests by fans against Dončić's former team. Cuban, who no longer controls the Maverick's, took the opportunity to poke fun at the team's current ownership.

While the comment by Gates was made jokingly, many feel strongly about the topic. As Windows 10 approaches its end of support, people are becoming increasingly vocal about their displeasure in having to upgrade to Windows 11. Windows 10 still has a 60.33 market share, which illustrates it's not just a vocal minority sticking with Windows 10 for as long as possible.

Moving back to Gates and sports, he also discussed how AI will likely replace humans for most things, but that people are unlikely to watch computers play baseball. Apparently, Gates has never seen Albert Pujols in action or the hilarious ESPN commercial about Pujols being a machine.

Nintendo vs Palworld

Despite the fact that the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) rejected 22 out of 23 of Nintendo's patent claims, this could be just the beginning for a legal battle between Nintendo and the Pocketpair, the creator of Palworld. As of this moment, there is not an active lawsuit surrounding claims that Palworld copied Pokemon. But Nintendo appears to be laying the groundwork for future legal action.

Nintendo already obtained a patent that covers aiming and capturing creatures within a game. Nintendo is also trying to obtain other patents.

Our Jennifer Young broke down the current status of Nintendo's potential legal battles and the patent successes (and failures) of the company related to Palworld. With Pokemon, which is one of the biggest brands in the world, involved, it's safe to say that legal disputes will continue for a while.

Avowed reviews

Avowed, the latest game from Xbox Game Studios and developer Obsidian Entertainment, launches on February 18. Ahead of the game's launch, reviewers got to play the highly anticipated title. Almost every review we've seen has been positive. Avowed sits at around 80 on Metacritic (out of 100). That score lines up with our own Avowed review, which gave the game a 4 out of 5.

"Obsidian Entertainment has done a wonderful job capturing the "magic" of RPGs like Skyrim that makes exploring every crevice fun, and immersing yourself in this world is stupendously easy," said our Zachary Boddy in that review. They praised the game for its combat, characters, and world building. I suggest reading their entire review, since Boddy has played hundreds of games, including many of the best RPGs.

Microsoft Edge drama

If you dislike Microsoft Edge, your best option is likely to just ignore the browser. For a brief moment, it appeared that Microsoft had shared steps to uninstall Edge from Windows 11, but that turned out to not be the case.

A page titled "How to Uninstall Microsoft Edge" was spotted by several outlets last week. Strangely, clicking on a Bing result showing that page directed users to a page dedicated to explaining how Edge is better than Chrome. Steps to uninstall Edge from Windows 11 were absent, replaced instead with charts highlighting Edge features.

After that site was flagged up by the media, Microsoft seemingly removed the page from the web altogether. Searching for how to uninstall Edge now just recommends a general topic page about the browser.

While it is possible to uninstall Edge in some circumstances, it's often easier to just leave the browser alone. Most of the outrage around the webpage was about the misleading title, not the status of Edge on Windows 11. That being said, legislation has required Microsoft to make it possible to uninstall Edge in EEA countries.

HoloLens

Microsoft's HoloLens went out with a whimper last week. The tech giant has handed off development of the IVAS militarized augmented reality headset to Anduril Industries. The partnership needs to be approved by the U.S. Department of Defence before it can go forward. If that happens, Microsoft will have essentially moved on from all first-party Mixed Reality products.

Microsoft has already retired its Windows Mixed Reality platform and ended production on HoloLens 2. The company also canceled HoloLens 3 in 2022, so it's no surprise to see Microsoft move away from its Mixed Reality products.

Windows Central Podcast

If you prefer to listen to people discuss the latest topics in tech, or if you want expert insight into the industry, make sure to check out the latest episode of the Windows Central Podcast. There, Editor-in-Chief Daniel Rubino and Senior Editor Zac Bowden run through trending topics and hot button issues surrounding Windows and Microsoft.

You can also subscribe to the Windows Central Podcast on through your favorite apps:

• Listen on Spotify
• Listen on Apple Podcasts
• Listen on Pocket Casts
• Subscribe via RSS

Reviews

Our team of experts go hands on with the latest gadgets and games every week. This week's highest review scores go to the ASUS Zenbook Duo and Turtle Beach VelocityOne Multi-Shift, both of which earned 4.5 stars out of 5.

"The Zenbook Duo (2025) is every bit as good as its predecessor, and it's now more powerful thanks to Intel's "Arrow Lake" chips inside," said Cale Hunt and Ben Wilson about the new Zenbook Duo. "Battery life remains stellar, the keyboard and touchpad are excellent, and the OLED displays are gorgeous."

Our Michael Moglund shared some fun wordplay in his review of the VelocityOne Multi-Shift:

"A great shifter that will bring Xbox and Windows PC gamers up a gear. If you're in the market for a premium shifter and can't decide between an H-pattern or sequential, get the best of both worlds with the VelocityOne Multi-Shift. It'll come in clutch."

Our team ran a bunch of devices and games through their paces, so make sure to check them all out!

Deals of the Week

Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates admitted having difficulty reveling in the software giant's success, even after unlocking billionaire status. Gates indicated reality dawned on him in the late '90s. "I wouldn’t say that I felt comfortable that we were successful until about 1998 or so," added Gates. "I thought I was one mistake away from death until then."

Apple co-founder, the late Steve Jobs, had some interesting insights on Gates' leadership and product launches at Microsoft (via Fortune). While speaking to The Independent, Bill Gates revealed:

“Steve Jobs once said that he wished I’d take acid because then maybe I would have had more taste in my design of my products.”

Gates jokingly replied to Jobs, indicating, “Look, I got the wrong batch.”

In hindsight, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates and Apple co-founder shared a complicated friendship. Not only did Gates help develop software for Apple's early computers, he helped save the iPhone maker from bankruptcy in 1997 by investing up to $150 billion in the company.

Steve Jobs was well-known for his impeccable design and marketing skills. He spearheaded the launch of flagship devices like the iPhone, iMac, and more—an area where he felt Bill Gates seemingly fell short, but he narrowed the gap with his technical prowess and expertise.

According to Bill Gates:

“I got the coding batch, and this guy got the marketing-design batch, so good for him. Because his talents and mine—other than being kind of an energetic leader, and pushing the limits—they didn’t overlap much.”

On the other hand, Microsoft was knee-deep in investing and building its cloud computing services, which has heavily contributed to the company's success and over $3 trillion market valuation.

The tech giant was also focused on shipping its Microsoft Office suite, which featured programs like Microsoft Word and Microsoft Excel. While the products continue to amass billions of users worldwide to date, Bill Gates' product launches didn't seem to tickle Steve Jobs' fancy.

Interestingly, Bill Gates disclosed to The Independent that he'd used drugs in the past before co-founding Microsoft. “I thought maybe I would look cool, and some girl would think that was interesting. It didn’t succeed, so I gave it up,” concluded Gates.

When was the last time you heard someone compare sports and software development? I can't recall either. However, Dallas Mavericks’ minority owner, Mark Cuban, recently shared interesting insights about the team unceremoniously trading basketball superstar Luka Dončić trade to the Los Angeles Lakers in an interview with Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates (via OpenCourt Basketball).

The interview started with Cuban posing a rhetorical question to Bill Gates:

"If after you left Microsoft, you found out that Steve Ballmer traded Windows 11, the new, hot operating system, for Windows 10, the Hall of Fame but the old operating system, what would you do."

"I might have to hide from the press," responded Gates. The philanthropic billionaire's comments are warranted given Microsoft's history and rapid trajectory to become the most sought-after software development company with billions of users across the world and up to $3 trillion in market valuation.

As we recently learned, Microsoft's immense success didn't dawn on Bill Gates until the late '90s, despite attaining billionaire status.

"I thought I was one mistake away from death until then," added Gates. "That was just my mentality.”

A preference for Windows 10, louder than ever

While Cuban raises a valid point on the basketball front, his sentiments might not be entirely valid on the Windows front. In the next 9 months, Microsoft is expected to pull the plug on Windows 10. October 14, 2025, could be around the corner, but Windows 10 continues to dominate with a 60.33% market share over Windows 11's 36.65% (the highest market share the new OS has enjoyed since shipping).

Despite Microsoft's blatant attempt to get users to upgrade to Windows 11 using intrusive and full-screen multipage popup ads, most users are seemingly sticking to their guns and continue to run the operating system, even with its imminent death looming closer.

Related: Windows 10 'doomsday clock' pushes closer to midnight as Microsoft's unexpected rivals dominate an expanding PC category

User reluctance to upgrade to Windows 10 can be attributed to several critical reasons, including the depressed PC market (though trends show it's on an upward trajectory this year), strict minimum system requirements for the OS, Windows 11's flawed design, and more.

A public interest research group filed a petition contesting Microsoft's decision to cut support for Windows 10. The group argued that over 40% of users still run Windows 10, citing that the plan would lead to "the single biggest jump in junked computers ever," which doesn't align with the tech giant's sustainability goals.

But as it now seems, Microsoft is moving forward with its plans. However, users can continue using Windows 10 for an additional year of support through Microsoft's Extended Security Updates program for $30, though it only guarantees one year of extended support and security updates.

Beyond that, users will be compelled to upgrade to Windows 11 or continue using Windows 10 without support. The latter option leaves you susceptible to attacks.

Bill Gates recently shared some interesting insights about the rapid progression of generative AI while appearing for an interview on The Tonight Show hosted by Jimmy Fallon. The Microsoft co-founder predicts AI will gradually take over more professions, eventually replacing humans in the workplace.

According to Gates:

“The era we’re just starting is that intelligence is rare — a great doctor or a great teacher. With AI, over the next decade, that will become free, commonplace — great medical advice, great tutoring. It’s kind of profound because it solves all of these specific problems like we don’t have enough doctors or mental health professionals. But it brings with it so much change.”

Bill Gates says AI is getting scary and humans won't be needed for most things from r/ChatGPT

The philanthropic billionaire admitted the rapid evolution of generative AI is beginning to scare people, prompting the host to ask whether we'll need humans in this new era of innovation. Gates kept his answer simple and short: "Not for most things."

Bill Gates further clarified that it'll mostly be up to humans to decide when to utilize AI to meet specific needs. For instance, he pointed out that people wouldn't want to watch AI-powered devices playing baseball. “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," he added.

The Microsoft co-founder has blatantly championed AI advances across the world, branding 2024 as "the year of AI." In a separate interview, he indicated that he'd start Microsoft again as an AI firm to take on OpenAI and Google.

While he indicated it would be easy to raise billions for an AI-centric firm based on a few sketch ideas, he admitted it's difficult to succeed in the AI landscape compared to software, making it paramount to identify a niche with little competition.

In a previous episode of Bill Gates' Unfocused Me podcast, the Microsoft co-founder hosted OpenAI CEO Sam Altman to discuss developments in the AI landscape. He highlighted concerns about AI potentially taking his job but also painted a scenario where the technology presented a 3-day workweek opportunity.

As Microsoft's 50th anniversary edges closer, there's a lot of nostalgia in the air. Depending on how you look at a half-filled glass, there are plenty of amazing moments we've reveled in as longtime Microsoft watchers. There have been bitter moments, too. For instance, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella admitted that killing Windows Phone was a strategic mistake.

Bill Gates, Microsoft co-founder, recounted the early days of founding and running the day-to-day company operations in a detailed, dated article by The New York Times from 1995 (via Fortune). Shockingly, the Microsoft co-founder revealed that he hadn't always been confident about his abilities.

In a separate report, Bill Gates admitted to CNBC that "I wouldn’t say that I felt comfortable that we were successful until about 1998 or so." For context, this was 11 years after Microsoft had gone public, raising over $61 million in a single day.

At the time, the software giant had enjoyed considerable success, brushing shoulders with major tech players like Apple. It's worth noting that Gates had already attained billionaire status despite his woes to propel Microsoft to a new realm of success.

According to Bill Gates:

“Not until the late-90s did I feel like, ‘Wow, we can even make a few mistakes and still be okay. I thought I was one mistake away from death until then. That was just my mentality.”

Fast-forward to 2025, Microsoft is arguably one of the most successful companies in the world. In 2024, Microsoft's big bet on AI and multi-billion partnership with OpenAI briefly propelled the software giant to the top spot, ahead of Apple and NVIDIA as the world's most valuable company with over $3 trillion in market capitalization.

Bill Gates' ruthless focus on work has contributed to Microsoft's current success. However, the co-founder's track record isn't blemish-free. The co-founder admits that the greatest mistake during his tenure fumbled Microsoft's opportunity "to be what Android is," translating to a $400 billion missed opportunity.

Bill Gates revealed his greatest mistake of all time made Microsoft miss its opportunity with Android, partly due to mismanagement and antitrust-related issues. However, Android co-founder Rich Miner says Bill Gates is more responsible than he's letting on.

Related: Bill Gates says he'd start Microsoft again as an AI-centric firm

It's been years since Bill Gates left Microsoft to focus on philanthropy. However, reports indicate that the co-founder is still intimately involved in company affairs and treats his advice as 'gospel.'

What you need to know

• In a recent interview with CNBC, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates indicated he'd start the company again as an AI-centric firm to rival OpenAI, Google, and more.
• Gates admits it's difficult to succeed in the AI landscape compared to software, making it paramount to identify a niche with little competition.
• He also critiqued AI startups and their operations — "Oh, the way those things work is so stupid."

As you may know, it's been years since Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates left the company to focus on philanthropy. However, reports indicate that he's still intimately involved in the tech giant's affairs, and his advice is treated like the 'gospel'. While speaking with CNBC earlier this week, Gates shared some interesting insights about how he'd start Microsoft again from scratch if he got another crack at the corporate world.

Related: Former OpenAI co-founder raises $1 billion for safety-focused firm

According to Bill Gates:

"Today, somebody could raise billions of dollars for a new AI company [that’s just] a few sketch ideas."

The billionaire indicated that if he could build Microsoft from the ground up, he'd hop onto the AI bandwagon with Microsoft as an AI-centric startup to rival key players in the AI landscape, including OpenAI, Google, Anthropic, and more. Gates further indicated that he'd attempt to build a rival AI firm if he received enough capital to give the key players in the AI game a run for their money.

However, the billionaire disclosed that, unlike most emerging AI startups, he'd attempt to identify a niche where AI could be useful. This would present the company with an infinite growth opportunity with little competition. Gates echoes similar sentiments in his upcoming Netflix docuseries What’s Next? The Future With Bill Gates slated to premiere on September 18:

"To really stand out “as a small company, you have to pick something you’re going to do uniquely.”

Interestingly, the billionaire admits that it'd be impossible for his make-believe startup to scale Microsoft's success in the category. However, he claims AI will be transformative enough for emerging tech startups to explore the landscape and identify their niche. 

Gates used the opportunity to share his impressive success while calling the shots at Microsoft. He admits his blatant push to get PCs to every home and the ability to get engineers to build software contributed to the tech giant's success. 

Gates admits his belief in software placed him in a unique position that contributed to Microsoft's significant success in the category — Windows continues to dominate the desktop market share. However, the billionaire doesn't think this would work in AI. “Just believing in AI, that’s not very unique. So I would have to develop some unique view of how you design AI systems — something that other people didn’t get,” the billionaire added.

Finally, Gates admits it is difficult to establish a clear path to success in AI. He indicated that if he could go back to his early 20s as an entrepreneur, he hoped his brain could establish a pattern about how AI startups operate and say, "Oh, the way those things work is so stupid."

Gates acknowledges the difficulty: If he were a 20-year-old entrepreneur again, he says, he’d have to hope that his “young brain” would recognize something about the way other companies approached AI and say, “Oh, the way those things work is so stupid.” Gates encourages the youth to continue exploring the relatively new landscape while referring to it as the frontier.

A clear path to success in AI is blurry at best

In the past few months, the AI landscape has undergone major shifts, with NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang indicating that we're on the verge of the next phase of AI with robotics and self-driving cars at the forefront. 

However, investors recently placed Microsoft under fire after its earnings call. The investors questioned Microsoft's exorbitant spending on AI projects with little returns to show, further claiming that it's difficult to establish a clear path to success.

In the same breath, OpenAI is reportedly on the cusp of bankruptcy within the next 12 months, with projections of $5 billion in losses. Microsoft, NVIDIA, and Apple will reportedly participate in another round of funding for the ChatGPT maker to extend its lifeline, pushing its market valuation well beyond $150 billion.

This happens amid reports that 30% of AI projects will be abandoned by 2025 after proof of concept.

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What you need to know

• In a 40-year-old radio interview, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates talked about his plan to get PCs to every home and the possibility of getting computers to learn.
• Bill Gates indicated that making computers easy to use and fun would help make his dream a reality, including bringing better graphics to PCs.
• Gates envisioned future PCs with learning capabilities that users can leverage to refer back to instead of running repetitive commands.

Could Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates have foreseen the company's current reality 40 years ago? 29-year-old Gates was featured on The Famous Computer Cafe radio show. During the interview, he mentioned his plan to get PCs to every home and the possibility of getting the computer to learn. 

Podcaster Kay Savetz unearthed the recordings from the radio show. While speaking to Business Insider, Savetz stated:

"The Interviews on these radio episodes provided a contemporary account of the dawn of the microcomputer revolution — not tainted by nostalgia. They are a great piece of history now, a time capsule."

Gates elaborated more on his plan to get computers to learn by stating:

"After you've used it for a while, then you'll be able to refer back to something you've done previously, so you don't have to repeat those commands."

His comments suspiciously point to Microsoft's controversial recalled WIndows Recall feature. Faulted for its privacy nightmare flaws, Windows Recall is arguably a helpful feature that allows you to quickly retrace your steps and refer to something you were looking at on your computer but forgot. 

Here's a brief description of what Windows Recall is from Copilot:

"Windows Recall is a fascinating feature available on Copilot+ PCs running Windows 11. Imagine it as your digital memory lane—a place where your PC captures snapshots of your screen every few seconds. These snapshots are like time-travel Polaroids, preserving everything you've seen and done."

The Microsoft co-founder also imagined an advanced device that could recognize mistakes like human co-workers. This complemented his plan to get PCs to every home. According to the US Census Bureau, only 8.2% of US households had a personal computer in 1984. More importantly, Gates stated the importance of making computers easy to use and fun to achieve this goal.

Bill Gates admitted that it was a "very tough piece of research" to get computers to such an advanced and sophisticated state. At the time, Microsoft referred to the process as "softer software," potentially referring to a smooth and improved user experience. 

The radio host asked Gates whether what he was talking about was similar to artificial intelligence. He admitted that he was corrected but indicated that the term was "kind of loaded."

"When people hear artificial intelligence, they think of robots and things that are, you know, going to take over the world and that type of stuff. Softer software refers to the simple steps we can take to make the machine learn and recognize what it is you're trying to do."

Fast forward 40 years into the future, Microsoft technically stacks miles ahead of Bill Gates' predictions and ambitions in the mid-1980s. As you may know, the Redmond giant is arguably one of the key players in the AI landscape. Microsoft briefly became the world's most valuable company, ahead of Apple, with over $3 trillion in market capitalization. Market analysts attributed the company's success to its early investment and adoption of AI across its tech stack. 

While making his closing remarks on the topic during the interview, Gates indicated:

"In the extreme case, once the software gets 100% soft, then we will have achieved human-level intelligence. That's a long way away."

Bill Gates lingers in Microsoft's horizon

Though Bill Gates officially left Microsoft to focus on his philanthropic efforts and the Gates Foundation, he's rumored to be intimately involved in Microsoft's internal affairs.

Gates' advice is reportedly treated as gospel at the firm. Additionally, he played a crucial role in landing Microsoft a deal with OpenAI to power its AI advances. While Microsoft CTO Kevin Scott might have brokered Microsoft's partnership with OpenAI in 2018, Bill Gates is said to have been in constant touch with the ChatGPT maker since 2016. 

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella and other top execs at the firm reportedly sought Gates' opinion every time before making a significant change. Long before Microsoft shipped Copilot, Gates shared an internal memo with executives at the firm centered on "AI agents." While vaguely described, the AI agents would help make work easier by reading and summarizing your emails. 

What you need to know

• Emails from 2019 between Microsoft executives Bill Gates, Satya Nadella, and Kevin Scott, were made public as part of an ongoing antitrust case.
• These emails specifically discuss worries that Microsoft's AI was "multiple years behind" key rival Google's AI.
• After these emails were sent, Microsoft went on to invest in OpenAI, which has helped the company improve its own AI developments.
• Today, Microsoft Copilot, an AI program, is integrated into various Microsoft software to provide AI assistance in various ways.

Considering Microsoft's current artificial intelligence (AI) focus, it's strange to think back to a time when the company wasn't in such a good place with it. But recently, information has come to light that helps explain why the tech company struck a deal with OpenAI in 2019.

As part of an ongoing antitrust case, heavily redacted emails sent between Microsoft executives in 2019 were made public recently. The subject of these emails — concerns that Microsoft's AI developments were falling behind that of one of its biggest competitors, Google. 

Specifically, CTO Kevin Scott wrote to CEO Satya Nadella and co-founder Bill Gates to talk about Microsoft's current AI situation. The email discussed worries that Microsoft's machine learning (ML) developments were "multiple years behind the competition."

"We have very smart ML people in Bind, in the vision team, and in the speech team. But the core deep learning teams within each of these bigger teams are very small, and their ambitions have also been constrained, which means that even as we start to feed them resources, they still have to go through a learning process to scale up. And we are multiple years behind the competition in terms of ML scale." - Kevin Scott email from June 12, 2019

Scott also mentioned that he initially didn't pay much attention to AI but realized this had been a bad move since Microsoft's rivals were making great strides with it. 

It's clear that the Microsoft execs took this information seriously. Later that year, Microsoft went on to strike a deal with OpenAI in 2019 and this has helped the company within the AI realm quite a bit since then. As of today, Microsoft has invested more than $13 billion in OpenAI (thanks, The Verge). You likely already know this, but to reiterate, OpenAI has been able to create multiple AI tools including the popular chatbot, ChatGPT, and the upcoming text-to-video generative model, Sora. 

It's interesting to see that Microsoft recognized it needed to do something to increase its standing within the AI realm and made a very good move to maintain its competitive place. We've seen how much AI programs like ChatGPT, DALL-E, Midjourney, and others have grown in popularity over the last few years. AI will only continue to grow and become more integrated with everyday programs as time goes on, so Microsoft made a smart move when making that deal with OpenAI in 2019.

These days Microsoft's AI assistant, Copilot, is capable of generating text responses to prompts as well as generating images (through the help of DALL-E 3). It's available within various Microsoft programs and services. Not to mention, it's been integrated into the Bing search engine for faster and more useful search results.

Since these emails were sent in 2019, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates has officially stepped down from the company. However, he still remains involved. After all, the man helped found the company when he was 20 (back in 1975). It's been his life's work and a very successful company to boot. So it makes sense he would continue to provide some input even if the now, 68-year-old retiree has reduced his focus on it.

What you need to know

• A new report indicates that Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates is still intimately involved in the company's affairs years after stepping down from the board to focus on philanthropy.
• Gates' advice is reportedly treated as gospel, and he also played a crucial role in fostering Microsoft and OpenAI's partnership, and consequently, the success witnessed in the category.
• Gates actively takes part in the recruitment of high-ranking executives at the firm, reviews new products, and more.

Microsoft has enjoyed great success since it started dabbling in AI and integrated its fully-fledged AI-powered assistant, Copilot across most of its products and services. The tech giant is now the world's most valuable company with over $3 trillion in market capitalization. 

The tech firm's multi-billion dollar investment (recently mistaken as an acquisition of ChatGPT-maker company) and extended partnership with OpenAI has 13 market analysts unanimously voting that Microsoft will be the world's most valuable company in the next five years ahead of Apple. Some have indicated Microsoft is on the verge of reaching its iPhone moment with AI with the company's latest earnings report building on this premise.

The immense success Microsoft currently enjoys is often attributed to the company's early lead and investment in AI coupled with Satya Nadella's impeccable leadership skills. But as it turns out, there's more to the story than Microsoft lets on.

To the public eye, Microsoft co-founder and former Bill Gates left the firm's board of directors to focus more on his philanthropic efforts at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. However, according to a report by Business Insider, the former CEO is still involved in the company's affairs and has been the muscle behind its AI efforts.

Per sources familiar with the matter, Bill Gates is still 'intimately' involved in Microsoft's operations and strategies and is often a part of the recruitment of high-ranking executives at the firm, reviews new products, and more. More importantly, Gates' contributions have heavily impacted Microsoft's relationship with OpenAI, however complicated it might be. 

According to one of Microsoft's top executives:

"What you read is not what's happening in reality. Satya and the entire senior leadership team lean on Gates very significantly. His opinion is sought every time we make a major change."

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella took over the company's leadership from Steve Ballmer but had been working there since 1992. Satya started his humble beginnings at Microsoft as an Excel product demonstrator. He quickly climbed the ranks at the company and ultimately rose to the top seat but saw himself as an "internal stranger" and even admitted that he never thought "someday Microsoft would have neither Bill nor Steve."

Microsoft CEO heavily relies on Bill Gates for technical advice

Upon his appointment as CEO, Satya often turned to Gates for advice. He reportedly asked Gates to set aside 30% of his time to serve as a technical advisor for Microsoft. Satya and Gate's professional relationship continued to thrive beyond the latter's departure from the company's board in 2020.

During Gates' departure from the company, Satya praised him for his contributions and promised that the company would continue to profit from his technical advice and passion. But this tone quickly changed in 2021 while Gates and Melinda were in divorce proceedings. At the time, Gates had reportedly been forced to step down from the company for having an affair with an employee. The situation worsened when several female employees highlighted Gates' misconduct, including asking them out. It is at this juncture that Satya seemingly distanced himself from Gates.

And while Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella's relationship with Bill Gates seemed broken, this wasn't the case. It's reported that Satya continued to rely on Gates for his technical advice and knowledge, which has heavily impacted the company's direction and AI advances.

Was Bill Gates the key ingredient that fostered the Microsoft-OpenAI deal?

While Microsoft's CTO Kevin Scott brokered the Microsoft and OpenAI partnership in 2018, it's reported that Bill Gates had been meeting up with the ChatGPT-maker from as early as 2016. As such, it's believed that he played an important role in the partnership. 

Gates is also rumored to have challenged OpenAI and its CEO, Sam Altman, to create an LLM with the capability of passing an advanced Biology test. At the time, Gates didn't believe it was possible, but it was indeed. Interestingly, OpenAI's Sam Altman debuted GPT-4 outside Gates' residence in 2022 where he'd been having dinner with the billionaire and Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella. Gates indicated it was "the most stunning demo I've ever seen in my life."

Gates skillfully curated Copilot's plot

Before Microsoft and OpenAI forged their tech bromance, Bill Gates shared an internal memo with Satya Nadella alongside top executives at the company. While vague, it talks about "AI agents" designed to help satisfy your wants and needs, but are more powerful than your basic voice assistant.

After Altman debuted GPT-4, Gates shared another memo highlighting several ways the technology should be leveraged to make work easier, including reading and summarizing your emails and more. Gates believed that the model trained using the information on the internet was the beginning of a new era with personal AI agents. 

Sources with close affiliations to Microsoft detailed Gates' words and advice were treated as the gospel. Consequently, Satya Nadella challenged his team to integrate AI across its wide portfolio of products and services, including cybersecurity, Microsoft 365, etc.

Microsoft spread its AI glory to its seemingly dead search engine, Bing, ultimately placing it on an even playing field to potentially compete with Google. Microsoft CEO has indicated that Google doesn't play fair with Bing. However, supercharging the search engine with AI doesn't seem to have any major impact on Google's search market share. However, it recently surpassed 140 million daily active users after the EU antitrust watchdog gave the service and Edge a pass on DMA rules since they aren't dominant enough in the digital markets.

What you need to know

• While speaking to OpenAI's CEO, Bill Gates raised concerns about AI and the possibility of technology taking over his job.
• The Microsoft founder admitted that he was skeptical about AI and didn't expect it to advance rapidly or ChatGPT to be good.
• Gates also shared a unique point of view where the technology's capabilities are leveraged to lessen the burden at the workplace and potentially lead to a shorter work week.

Microsoft founder Bill Gates has openly championed advances in artificial intelligence and indicated that 2024 will be "the year of AI." Towards the end of last year, Gates penned a letter highlighting several ways the technology will shape the future as it becomes more widespread and more people adopt and integrate it into their workflows.

Interestingly, while speaking to OpenAI CEO Sam Altman during an episode of his Unconfuse Me with Bill Gates podcast, the Microsoft founder expressed his concern over AI taking his job (via Firstpost). 

Altman and Gates discussed multiple topics during the episode, from GPT-5, AGI superintelligence, and video capabilities coming to ChatGPT. Gates admitted that he was skeptical about AI and didn't expect it to advance rapidly. He further indicated that he didn't expect AI-powered chatbots like ChatGPT to be as good as they are at performing complex tasks.

Bill Gates has previously shared his intentions to leverage AI capabilities to improve living conditions and the health sector in low-income areas through the Gates Foundation and its partners.

A 3-day work week is possible with AI

Elsewhere, while making an appearance at Trevor Noah's What Now? podcast, Bill Gates talked about AI and its possibility of claiming jobs from professionals. Gates shared a unique point of view in which humans didn't have to work as hard as their jobs, with the possibility of showing up at the workplace for only three days.

He added that AI can be leveraged to make food and perform other daunting tasks, negating the need for people to work five days every week to make a living. 

AI is rendering some professions obsolete

With generative AI becoming more widespread and organizations at the forefront of the adoption and integration of AI into their workflows, potential danger looms for some professions. 

NVIDIA's CEO advised the next generation against considering coding as a career option. Jensen Huang indicated that AI is already a huge part of coding, and it won't be long before it takes over the profession entirely. The technology can already develop software in under 7 minutes. Instead, the CEO recommends biology, education, manufacturing, or farming as viable and future-proof career options.

AI has started rendering graphic designers and architects obsolete, as sophisticated tools like Image Creator from Designer (formerly Bing Image Creator), ChatGPT, Midjourney, and others are equally as good, if not better, at generating structural designs. 

Per Microsoft's Work Trend Index report from last year, 49% of the survey participants were worried about losing their jobs to AI. However, 70% expressed readiness to adopt and incorporate the technology into their workflow. 

What you need to know

• Sam Altman and Microsoft's Bill Gates recently touched base and talked about everything about AI, from OpenAI's future to achieving superintelligence.
• In the broad interview, Altman mentioned that the team behind ChatGPT is working toward incorporating video capabilities into the platform for the future.
• The company is also working on making GPT-5 better than GPT-4 and promises more accuracy, better responses and reasoning, and more. 

With Sam Altman back at the helm of OpenAI, more changes, improvements, and updates are on the way for the company's AI-powered chatbot, ChatGPT. Altman recently touched base with Microsoft's Bill Gates over at his Unconfuse Me podcast and talked all things OpenAI, including the development of GPT-5, superintelligence, the company's future, and more. 

The 33-minute-long interview kicks off with Bill Gates highlighting his surprise at how much ChatGPT has grown and gained popularity over the years, further citing that the chatbot has gotten significantly better with every refinement made by the company in terms of features and updates.

Gates also indicates that people are just beginning to familiarize themselves with generative AI, and are discovering how much can be achieved through the technology. 

Altman admitted that the team behind the popular chatbot is yet to explore its full potential, as they too are trying to figure out what works and what doesn't. In the same breath, he highlighted that the team has made significant headway in some areas, which can be attributed to the success and breakthroughs made since ChatGPT's inception.

A future version of ChatGPT will ship with video capabilities

Sam Altman shares with Gates that image generation and analysis coupled with the voice mode feature are major hits for ChatGPT users. He added that users have continuously requested video capabilities on the platform, and it's something that the team is currently looking at. This will likely be huge for ChatGPT, owing to the positive reception of image and audio capabilities received when shipping the AI-powered app. 

However, the CEO indicated that the main area of focus for the team at the moment is reasoning capabilities. Altman pointed out that OpenAI's GPT-4 model can only reason in "extremely limited ways." He also pointed out that the company is working toward boosting the chatbot's reliability, to ensure that it provides accurate responses when providing answers to queries. There's been an increase in the number of reports citing that the chatbot has seemingly gotten dumber, which has negatively impacted its user base. 

GPT-5 promises better accuracy and multimodality

OpenAI has been able to achieve incredible feats with its GPT-4 model, but it has also encountered setbacks in equal measure. Altman further shared the following sentiments:

"Right now, GPT-4 can reason in only extremely limited ways. Also, reliability. If you ask GPT-4 most questions 10,000 times, one of those 10,000 is probably pretty good, but it doesn’t always know which one, and you’d like to get the best response of 10,000 each time, and so that increase in reliability will be important. Customizability and personalization will also be very important. People want very different things out of GPT-4: different styles, different sets of assumptions. We’ll make all that possible, and then also the ability to have it use your own data. The ability to know about you, your email, your calendar, how you like appointments booked, connected to other outside data sources, all of that. Those will be some of the most important areas of improvement."

While Altman didn't disclose a lot of details in regard to OpenAI's upcoming GPT-5 model, it's apparent that the company is working toward building further upon the model and improving its capabilities. As earlier mentioned, there's a likelihood that ChatGPT will ship with video capabilities coupled with enhanced image analysis capabilities. 

FUN FACT: Sam Altman claims he uses Slack more than OpenAI's ChatGPT, due to the intense coordination required to run the company, which has approximately 500 employees.

The CEO also indicated that future versions of OpenAI's GPT model could potentially be able to access the user's data via email, calendar, and booked appointments. The goal behind this is to provide a more personalized experience. But as it is, users are already reluctant to leverage AI capabilities because of the unstable nature of the technology and lack of guardrails to control its use. 

US government's impending regulatory cap on AI

Generative AI could potentially lead to amazing discoveries that will allow people to tap into unexplored opportunities. However, all these come at a rather expensive cost. We already know OpenAI parts with up to 700,000 dollars per day to keep ChatGPT running, this is on top of the exorbitant water consumption by the technology, which consumes one water bottle per query for cooling.

There are also great concerns revolving around AI safety and privacy among users, though Biden's administration issued an Executive Order addressing some of these issues. The US government imposed export rules to prevent chipmakers like NVIDIA from shipping GPUs to China over military concerns, further citing that the move is in place to establish control over the technology, not to rundown China's economy. 

The US government might tighten its grip and impose more rules to establish further control over the use of the technology amid its long-standing battle with China over supremacy in the tech landscape. Microsoft is already debating what to do with its Beijing-based AI research lab, as the rivalry continues to brew more trouble for both parties. 

Sam Altman's long-term dream is to achieve superintelligence

While OpenAI continues to make modifications and improvements to ChatGPT, Sam Altman hopes and dreams that he'll be able to achieve superintelligence. Superintelligence is essentially an AI system that surpasses the cognitive abilities of humans and is far more advanced in comparison to Microsoft Copilot and ChatGPT.

RELATED: Microsoft launches paid subscription for Copilot 

OpenAI might already be well on its way to achieving this incredible feat after the company's staffers penned down a letter to the board of directors highlighting a potential breakthrough in the space. The breakthrough could see the company achieve superintelligence within a decade or less if exploited well.

However, it's important to have elaborate measures and guardrails in place to ensure that the technology doesn't spiral out of control or fall into the wrong hands. 

What you need to know

• Former Microsoft CEO, Bill Gates says 2024 will be the year of AI.
• He says the technology is practically taking over the world, and that it's going to get more intensive as the years go by and more people embrace AI.
• The Gates Foundation is primarily focused on using the tech to address health issues affecting poor countries like AIDS and TB.

There's no doubt that this year has been huge for generative AI, given the numerous inventions and advances that have been made. AI-powered tools like ChatGPT, Microsoft's Copilot (formerly Bing Chat), Bing Image Creator, and more have completely revolutionized how I work (but that's a story for another day).

I believe the same sentiments are reiterated by large masses of people, including Microsoft's former CEO, Bill Gates. While looking back at the year that was, as we forge towards 2024 in the next few days, Gates penned a letter highlighting how AI will shape the future. 

Gates looks into the future through his young granddaughter's eyes. This is because this is essentially the generation that will inherit a "full-fledged" AI-powered world. While many might argue that the technology is still new, we've already seen the input it has on various industries, including computing, medicine, education, and more.

Admittedly, there's a cloud of concern looming over most users, predominantly because of the lack of guardrails alongside privacy issues revolving around the emerging technology. The Biden-Harris administration has already addressed some of these issues through an Executive Order, which has already started taking shape. It recently blocked an NVIDIA shipment headed to China over safety concerns. The US government quickly issued a statement citing that the move was designed to establish control over AI chips, and not to run down the country's economy. However, the country has since turned its eyes to GPU recycling factories for its AI chip needs. 

Bill Gates compares the emergence of AI to when the internet had just become available. He looks back at the trajectory the technology took from the onset, from not knowing how many people have access to everyone having an email address and using the tool to scour the web. 

Bill Gates: The future looks bright for AI

Gates further points out his investment in innovation while working at Microsoft and even now at the Gates Foundation alongside his wife, Melinda. He categorically stated that it's the main reason why a lot of progress has been over the years across all spheres of our lives.

He added that innovation has contributed to the emergence of electricity, cars, planes, and significant advances in medicine over the past few years, further highlighting his favorite innovation story, where the number of children who die before the age of five has reduced by half since 2000. He attributed this success to innovation, as it allowed scientists to come up with efficient and effective vaccines that are safe and affordable for all. 

Bill Gates through the Gates Foundation intends to explore the technology more and optimize its capabilities in a bid to create new medicines by combining large amounts of data and AI tools to hasten the process. 

According to Gates:

"Some companies are already working on cancer drugs developed this way. But a key priority of the Gates Foundation in AI is ensuring these tools also address health issues that disproportionately affect the world's poorest, like AIDS, TB, and malaria."

To this end, the Gate Foundation is exploring multiple AI innovations alongside its partners to leverage these technologies to enhance living conditions across low-income areas.

What are your thoughts on AI? Do you think the guardrails in place are enough to prevent it from spiraling out of control? Let us know in the comments.

Ever wondered what it would be like to scroll reddit just by thinking it? Well, if you have, perhaps our old pal Billy G has something in the works for you. 

Microsoft co-founder and prolific philanthropist Bill Gates has joined up with Amazon's Jeff Bezos according to reports to back Synchron, a company building brain implants to help further interface humans with computers. 

Human-computer interfacing of today revolves around external peripherals, such as touch screens, Xbox controllers, keyboards, etc. But fear not, government-mandated brain implants are not (yet) in Synchron's purview. Instead, Synchron's technology revolves around improving accessibility, for those with limited or impaired mobility. 

The report in CNBC describes how Synchron's "Switch"  technology is seamlessly implants via blood vessels, allowing patients to interact with their devices using their thoughts alone. The report says that so far only 7 patients across the United States and Australia have been testing out the tech, and thus far, the results seem to have been promising. 

Synchron CEO Tom Oxley said, "I’ve seen moments between patient and partner, or patient and spouse, where it’s incredibly joyful and empowering to have regained an ability to be a little bit more independent than before. It helps them engage in ways that we take for granted."

Synchron just announced a $75 million dollar funding round that counts Bill Gates and Jeff Bezos venture firms among those offering early investment. Synchron has described its technology as more "scalable" than competitors like Neuralink, developed by Elon Musk's firm. Synchron's antenna can be fitted via a stent, which is a commonly-used surgical procedure fitted via arteries and veins. 

Competing solutions often require the presence of a full-blown neurosurgeon, whereas Synchron's technology can be fitted with far more expertise that is far more available. The technology could be revolutionary for patients with ailments like ALS, or full-body paralysis, giving thousands of potential candidates a new lease on life.

The technology is subject to all sorts of conspiracy theories and controversy. Questions over Elon Musk's own Neuralink paint a dark picture of the science. Musk's Neuralink is being investigated for animal cruelty, owing to reports of test monkeys being subjected to "extreme suffering." However, on the Synchron side, respected medical journal JAMA Neurology recently approved the technology, noting that their methodology was entirely safe, and didn't degrade in quality after a 12-month period.

While technology revolves around accessibility right now, it's not hard to imagine a future where it could become more commonplace. If it becomes more convenient as current solutions while remaining just as safe, it's not science fiction to imagine a world where able-bodied humans couldn't opt-in to this type of tech. If you ignore some of the more dystopic science-fiction, that is.

What you need to know

• Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates restated his plans to donate "virtually all of" his money in the future.
• Gates announced plans to donate $20 billion to the Gates Foundation this month.
• Gates also highlighted that Warren Buffett has donated generously to the Gates Foundation, making up "basically half" of the foundation's resources.

Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates recently discussed his plans to donate billions of dollars to charity. Gates, one of the richest men in the world, will transfer $20 billion to the Gates Foundation by the end of this month, according to a recent tweet. His plan is to "give virtually all of [his] wealth to the foundation" and to drop off the list of the world's richest people at some point in the future (via BBC).

The Gates Foundation plans to increase its spending to $9 billion per year by 2026, up from the current rate of almost $6 billion per year. The foundation battles against diseases, aims to improve education, and helps sanitation efforts. Gates famously drank water from a toilet that had been sanitized as part of a demonstration.

"I have an obligation to return my resources to society in ways that have the greatest impact for reducing suffering and improving lives. And I hope others in positions of great wealth and privilege will step up in this moment too," said Gates.

Back in 2010, Gates pledged to donate his wealth. The Microsoft co-founder has donated quite a bit to charity over the years. Bill and Melinda Gates have collectively donated $39 billion to the Gates Foundation alone since 1994. Both have also contributed to other charities. Despite these donations, Gates' net worth has doubled since 2010.

Gates is worth $122 billion at the moment, according to Forbes. He'll have to increase his rate of donation to outspend his income going forward.

In his Twitter thread, Gates highlighted the generosity of Warren Buffett, who has given the Gates Foundation $35.7 billion since 2006.