IT Home, October 1 news, according to Business Insider today (October 1), Microsoft co-founder and billionaire philanthropist Bill Gates believes that if AI replaces human jobs on a large scale, taxing robots could ensure income security for the unemployed. Even if AI displaces people from the job market, society still has the "right to decide" how to protect workers.
First, establish a unit of labor, regardless of whether the work is performed by a human or a robot, and require the same federal insurance contributions as those paid by human workers.
In the United States, the Federal Insurance Contributions Act (FICA) tax is levied as a percentage of workers' wages to fund programs such as Social Security and Medicare, with employers contributing an equal amount. Gates believes that if robots replace human jobs, a similar tax should be imposed on robots—both to provide economic security for citizens and to sustain government revenue sources.
Gates has previously warned multiple times that AI and robotics could severely impact white-collar jobs. In a lengthy article he published in August this year, he stated that the impact on office jobs has been relatively "mild," and blue-collar jobs could soon face the same issues.
Gates believes that the development of physical robots is currently lagging behind AI systems, but people are underestimating how quickly humanoid robots will catch up. Taxing AI tokens could slightly slow the pace at which AI replaces human labor, while raising funds for workforce retraining and strengthening social safety nets.
According to IT Home, as early as 2017, Gates proposed a robot tax during an interview with Kevin Delaney, then CEO of Quartz. Nearly a decade later, the idea remains on his radar. “I still strongly support this approach. While a robot tax cannot fully address the threats posed by AI, it should be part of a reasonable response strategy.”