Bill Gates says some jobs should be off limits to AI — and companies that replace human workers should face a 'token tax'

And influential figures in the sphere, like Bill Gates, are asking that society earmark space for people in positions that require these uniquely mortal abilities as we push into the unknown of a new industrial revolution.

Specifying ‘human reserved’ jobs

In a lengthy essay about the frontier of artificial intelligence, published recently on Gates’s blog, the Microsoft magnate suggests, among other things, that we “set aside some jobs for humans,” no matter how software evolves to supersede us.

The jobs in question would include roles that deal with extremely delicate situations, such as in healthcare specialties — areas that Gates is personally familiar with, and uses his experience to prove the continued need for.

“My dad died of Alzheimer’s in 2020. In the later stages of his illness, he was cared for day and night by caregivers who understood him even when he struggled to express himself,” he says. “Something in the care they gave him was irreplaceably human. No robot could or should have done it.

“For example, imagine a robot giving you the awful news that you have an incurable disease. There’s no technical reason why it couldn’t. Yet it shouldn’t.”

Gates believes this “human reserved” label could also extend to other sectors where, even if an algorithm could do a particular job, it would not be moral to allow it to, such as in cases that would displace a large number of specialized, experienced people.

“We might set something aside as human reserved for economic reasons: You can’t tell a 55-year-old who has worked in construction their whole career that they need to go work at an elder care facility and expect them to find it fulfilling,” he writes. “We should consider setting aside some jobs now and phasing in AI slowly over years or decades with a commitment to preserve some jobs.”