This year marked the first time I used artificial intelligence for work and not just as a novelty. I suspect the same is true for a lot of people. We are at the beginning of a huge technology transition right now. This is an exciting and confusing time, full of uncertainty about how AI will shape the years ahead — but it’s still clearer than ever how AI can be used to improve productivity and expand access to education, mental health care and more. My work has always been rooted in a core idea: Innovation is the key to progress. It’s why I started Microsoft. It’s why Melinda and I started the Gates Foundation more than two decades ago. And it’s why lives around the world have improved so much over the last century. Since 2000, the world has nearly cut in half the number of children who die before the age of five — and innovation is a big reason why. Scientists came up with new ways to make vaccines that were faster and cheaper but just as safe. They developed new delivery mechanisms that worked in the world’s most remote places, which made it possible to reach more kids, and created new vaccines that protect children from deadly diseases like rotavirus. In a world with limited resources, you have to find ways to maximize impact. Innovation is the key to getting the most out of every dollar spent. And AI is about to accelerate the rate of new discoveries at a pace we’ve never seen before. One of the biggest impacts so far is on creating new medicines. AI tools can speed up the process of drug discovery significantly, and some companies are already working on cancer drugs developed this way.
Full opinion by Bill Gates : Why I’m optimistic about the future of AI.
