Billionaire philanthropist and former Microsoft CEO Bill Gates predicted a “massive technology boom” over the subsequent decade as scientists proceed to develop and fine-tune synthetic intelligence (AI) in 2024.

Gates wrote in his annual blog post that 2023 was the primary yr he used AI for “work and serious reasons,” noting the business now has a greater understanding of what AI can and might’t do. He mentioned scientists in 2024 will nonetheless be working to enhance AI and the way the expertise can be utilized “to tackle big problems.”

He recalled a previous journey to Senegal, the place he met with scientists who’re attempting to develop AI tasks, like utilizing the expertise to fight antibiotic resistance, create customized tutors for college students, deal with high-risk pregnancies and assess individuals’s danger for HIV.

“Much of their work is in the earliest stages of development—there’s a good chance we won’t see any of them used widely in 2024 or even 2025,” Gates wrote. “Some might not even pan out at all. The work that will be done over the next year is setting the stage for a massive technology boom later this decade.”

He cautioned that these sorts of tasks face quite a few obstacles to be enacted in on a regular basis life.

“There is a long road ahead for projects like these. Significant hurdles remain, like how to scale up projects without sacrificing quality and how to provide adequate backend access to ensure they remain functional over time. But I’m optimistic that we will solve them,” Gates mentioned. 

Gates additionally predicted high-income international locations, just like the United States, are about 18 to 24 months away from the overall inhabitants utilizing a “significant level” of AI. He mentioned he expects to see “a comparable level of use” in African international locations about three years from now, and remarked that AI might make the world “more equitable.”

“If we make smart investments now, AI can make the world a more equitable place. It can reduce or even eliminate the lag time between when the rich world gets an innovation and when the poor world does,” he mentioned.