Neal McBurnett

Bill Gates just warned AI could trigger mass unemployment In a super long (6,000-word) post that @BillGates just published, he says "Even under the best circumstances, the transition to this new AI era will be one of the most turbulent times in human history" Some takeawys - AI is moving too fast for the usual technology-transition playbook. Unlike PCs, AI already runs on devices people own, communicates in natural language, and can learn from the same materials used to train humans, so adoption does not require decades of new hardware, software, and user retraining. - He would probably support a credible global effort to slow AI development, but does not believe geopolitical and economic competition will allow one. - His biggest economic fear is permanent job destruction, not temporary unemployment. Gates argues that AI can substitute directly for human cognition, putting entry- and mid-level work in sales, customer support, software engineering, paralegal work, finance, healthcare and other fields at risk, while increasingly capable robots could start competing for construction and hospitality tasks before 2030. - The decisive point comes when AI becomes reliable enough to work without human checking, because removing the human then becomes economically attractive. - He sees AI as a force multiplier for both attackers and powerful institutions. Lower-skill criminals could gain capabilities for cyberattacks, fraud, deepfakes and potentially biological threats, while governments could use cheaper autonomous weapons, surveillance and opinion manipulation; beyond misuse by humans, - Gates also leaves open the longer-term risk that increasingly capable AI systems could act against human interests. - He worries that always-available, agreeable AI companions could reduce the difficult social interactions through which children build resilience, while heavy reliance on AI for intellectual work could weaken critical thinking; at the same time, he argues that carefully designed AI tutors could improve education by preserving the student's own cognitive effort instead of simply supplying answers. - He also proposes a "Human Reserved" category for work society deliberately keeps human, and taxes on AI tokens and robots to slow some automation.

This is that original MIT report that said 95% of AI pilots fail and which spooked investors across US Stockmarket. The reports says, most companies are stuck, because 95% of GenAI pilots produce zero ROI, while a small 5% win by using systems that learn, plug into real workflows, and improve with use. Teams keep buying or building static tools that demo well but cannot remember context, adapt, or fit daily operations, and this report maps exactly how the few winners do it differently. 🧪 How they ran the study They combined a review of 300+ public implementations with 52 structured interviews and 153 senior‑leader surveys across January to June 2025, which gives the patterns below real footing. 🧵 Read on 👇