July 18, 2023: Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates is a devotee in the possibility of artificial intelligence, often repeating that he accepts models like the one at the soul of ChatGPT are the numerous crucial advancement in technology since the individual computer.

The technology’s emergence could lead to issues like deep fakes, biased algorithms, and hustling in school, he says, but he predicts that the problems emanating from the technology are solvable.

“One thing that’s clear from everything that has been written so far about the risks of A.I. and a lot has been written is that no one has all the answers,” Gates noted in a blog post this week. “Another thing that’s clear to me is that the future of A.I. is not as grim as some people think or as reddish as others think.”

Gates broadcasting a middle-of-the-road view to A.I. risks could shift the debate around the technology away from doomsday scenarios towards more limited regulation managing current risks, just as governments worldwide grapple with how to regulate the technology and its potential downfalls. For example, on Tuesday, senators received a classified briefing about A.I. and the military.

Gates is among the most distinguished voices about artificial intelligence and its regulation. He’s also closely affiliated with Microsoft, which invested in OpenAI and integrated ChatGPT into its core products, including Office.

In the blog post, Gates cites how society reacted to previous advancements to make the case that humans have adapted to significant changes in the past, and they will do so for A.I. as well.

“For example, it will have a big impact on education, but so did handheld calculators a occasional decades ago and, more recently, allowing computers in the classroom,” Gates wrote.

Gates suggests that the kind of rule the technology needs is “speed limits and seat belts.”

“Soon after the first automobiles were on the road, there was the first car crash. But we didn’t ban cars we adopted speed limits, safety standards, licensing requirements, drunk-driving laws, and other road rules,” Gates wrote.

Gates is worried about some challenges arising from adopting the technology, including how it could change people’s jobs and “hallucination,” or the tendency for models such as ChatGPT to invent facts, documents, and people.