Bill Gates says Microsoft would focus on AI today

If Bill Gates had to start all over again, he would join the race for artificial intelligence with an “AI-centric” startup, he says.

“Today, someone could raise billions of dollars for a new AI company [que tem apenas] some sketched ideas,” the billionaire co-founder of Microsoft told CNBC.

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You have to choose to do something uniquely

If he could raise enough capital, he would consider trying to build a rival to the AI ​​efforts of big companies like Google, Nvidia or Microsoft-backed OpenAI, he says. Otherwise, he would try to find a specific niche where AI could be useful and grow in a focused way with minimal competition, he adds.

Gates researched the AI ​​industry for his upcoming documentary series Netflixwhich is called “What’s Next? The Future With Bill Gates” (Literal translation: What’s Next? The Future with Bill Gates) which debuted on September 18. His main entrepreneurial lesson, he says: To really stand out “as a small business, you have to pick something that you’re going to do uniquely.”

Since the AI ​​industry is in the midst of a boom period — startups have received more than $26 billion in investment so far, according to Pitchbook — it may be too late to get ahead of the technology development curve. But AI will be transformative enough as it grows that any new tech startup should consider how it can fit into the industry, Gates says.

Think about how to improve daily life

Gates’s hypothetical startup probably wouldn’t be as successful as Microsoft, he notes. When Microsoft launched in 1976, only “hobbyists” like Gates and Allen imagined that computers would one day dominate culture. Their belief in technology, combined with their ability to recruit engineers and develop software, helped them dominate a nascent market.

“I was lucky that my belief in software made me unique,” says Gates, adding: “Just believing in AI, that’s not very unique. So I would have to develop a unique view of how you design AI systems — something that other people haven’t understood.”

Gates acknowledges the difficulty: If he were a 20-year-old entrepreneur again, he says, he would have to wait for his “young brain” to recognize something about the way other companies were approaching AI and say, “Oh, the way these things work is so stupid.”

So his advice to today’s entrepreneurs is simple — start by thinking about ways AI could improve a business or your daily life, by automating costly tasks or helping generate strategic ideas that could have broader applications. If AI reduced paperwork for doctors, they could focus more of their time on counseling their patients, Gates told CNN in January.

“I’m encouraging young people at Microsoft, OpenAI, wherever I find them: ‘Hey, here’s the frontier,‘” he says now. “Because you’re looking at this in a fresher way than I am, and this is your fantastic opportunity.”