The Download: Bill Gates isn’t scared of AI, and net-zero shipping goals
Bill Gates just joined the chorus of big names in tech who have weighed in on the question of risks around artificial intelligence. TL;DR? He’s not too worried, we’ve been here before.
The billionaire business magnate and philanthropist made his case in a post on his personal blog GatesNotes, in which he called AI the most transformative technology any of us will see in our lifetimes—ahead of the internet, smartphones, and personal computers.
His optimism is refreshing after weeks of doomsaying. Gates urges fast but cautious action to address some of the harms AI already poses to society, from elections to education to employment. The problem is that he doesn’t offer anything new. Read the full story.
—Will Douglas Heaven
The UN just set a net-zero goal for shipping. Here’s how that could work.
Ships crisscrossing the world’s oceans are vital to our global economy—everything from the bananas in your kitchen to the car in your driveway may have journeyed on one at some point.
But all that travel causes pollution: the global shipping industry is responsible for over a billion tons of greenhouse-gas emissions each year, about 3% of the world’s total.
A UN group called the International Maritime Organization agreed earlier this month to set a goal of net-zero greenhouse-gas emissions for global shipping by or around 2050. But experts say that there are more than enough tools available for the industry to reach, or even surpass, those new goals. Read the full story.
—Casey Crownhart
