On Monday, Bill Gates used Twitter to offer some words of wisdom to the Class of 2017. The co-founder of Microsoft gave examples of college courses he would take if he was a freshman student today.
According to Business Insider, Bill Gates said he would major in artificial intelligence (AI), energy, or biosciences. The icon called these courses as "promising fields" where students can make a huge impact. Apparently, tech experts and economists all agree that there will be notable changes in the corporate world in the next 20 years.
For one thing, business institutions are seen to use AI in automating their factories, construction sites, and retail locations. Also, Bill Gates explained that he chose geosciences because powering a lot of robots may need sources of renewable energy. For example, solar and wind power could be of great help to the big automation of the world.
As a matter of fact, he has predicted that humanity will see an "energy miracle" within 15 years. Consequently, the US biotech market is now expanding at "impressive" rates. Allegedly, this is due to the effort of private firms to develop smarter drugs and medical treatments for antibiotic-resistant bacteria.
In the Twitter thread, Bill Gates revealed that he chose these courses based on personal experiences. The Microsoft co-founder is the co-chair of the Gates Foundation too, wherein he has seen "first-hand" how much progress the world has made in automating menial jobs. Ai's also helped in eradicating disease and bringing alternative energy sources to the world's poorest regions.
Instead of fearing the imminent robot invasion, the Microsoft boss wants students to take advantage of it and learn how to use AI's for their benefit. He reminded bright young minds that they know what he did when he was their age. For the record, the renowned icon dropped out of Harvard University after his sophomore year.
Nonetheless, he said he has several things he wished he knew when he left school. One of those is the fact that intelligence takes many forms. Second is that he wished he had been more aware of the world's sufferings. He challenged the youth of today, who probably knows more than him back then, to use their knowledge and their privileges to fight inequities in any form possible.
