Robots are taking human jobs. But Bill Gates believes that governments should tax companies’ use of them, as a way to at least temporarily slow the spread of automation.
In an interview with Quartz, the Microsoft founder suggested the radical idea, saying companies who replace their workers with robots should pay a tax which could fund other types of employment.
It’s a striking position from the world’s richest man and a self-described techno-optimist who co-founded Microsoft, one of the leading players in artificial-intelligence technology.
Gates, who is also a philanthropist and humanitarian, said that the tax money can be used for funding better elderly care and education for special children. “You know, all of those are things where human empathy and understanding are still very, very unique.”
He argues that levying a tax isn’t doesn’t hamper innovation; it ensures the excess labour is taken into account.
So are what the jobs robots are mostly likely to steal from humans? The most obvious and predictable include industrial equipment assembly, finance and cashier jobs, and drivers. The not-so-conventional ones: actors, singers and models!