Bill Gates is coming out of a period of semi-seclusion to raise the alarm bells about generative A.I. Karen Weise covers the story for The NYT. One of the main concerns that Gates has is the potential for massive job losses.

He proposed a new tax on A.I. use, known as a “token tax,” to make it more expensive to replace people and provide money to help those who do lose work. A token is a basic unit of A.I. computing. The idea of taxing it has gained some traction, including on Wall Street, as a way to increase the cost of using machines instead of human labor.

Gates wrote a personal essay on his site about how dangerous the situation could be if we don’t take it seriously.

AI will either be the greatest equalizer ever invented, or the worst source of injustice.

The man is not downplaying the stakes here. He believes that the reason his peers are not coming forward is that there is too much money to be gained.