There is “no plan” for the “social, political, and economic upheaval” artificial intelligence is about to cause, Bill Gates

The Microsoft

In an essay published Wednesday, Gates said AI could displace workers across the economy, squeeze entry-level hiring, and force policymakers to rethink employment, education and the social safety net.

The essay is a shift from past statements from Gates, who works with Microsoft and other AI companies through the Gates Foundation. He told Verum in October that AI was “the biggest technical thing ever in my lifetime,” adding, “It is so profound and therefore its influence is hard to overstate.”

In his essay, Gates said that new national bodies and international institutions will ultimately be required to help coordinate and safeguard against evolving AI risks globally.

“The challenge is monumental. Even under the best circumstances, the transition to this new AI era will be one of the most turbulent times in human history,” Gates said.

‘A vicious cycle’

In the essay, the billionaire philanthropist argued that, unlike previous technological shifts, AI could replace human cognitive work across industries faster than displaced workers can move into newly created roles.

“We need time to prepare for the period of social, political, and economic upheaval we are about to enter,” he wrote.

“Unfortunately, right now we are not preparing for it. I don’t see evidence that leaders, experts, and communities are confronting the challenges adequately. There is no plan to ease the entry into the AI era.”

Gates said white-collar employment was already being affected, with sales, customer support, software engineering and paralegal work potentially among the first areas hit. AI could eventually take on tasks including assessing loans, analyzing data and triaging patients, he added.

Blue-collar workers will also face pressure as increasingly capable robots become cheaper, he said, while younger people risk entering a labor market with fewer openings.

“The people who need the most time are the ones who have the least — the accounting worker who’s replaced by a bot or the $20-an-hour worker who loses their job to a $10-an-hour robot,” he added.

Competition could accelerate adoption as companies use AI and robotics to cut costs and prices, forcing rivals to follow. “Robots and AI combined can create a vicious cycle,” he added, warning that retraining and finding new work would cause significant turmoil.

How Gates says governments should prepare

Gates — who acknowledged in the essay that he still has financial ties to the tech industry — also said the technology can “accelerate innovation” in the world’s “toughest technical challenges”: providing reliable clean energy, combating climate change, growing enough food and eradicating diseases.

He said managing the transition requires new national bodies able to coordinate policy across employment, taxation, energy, elections, public health, the financial system and national security.

“But even a country that gets its own house in order will still be exposed to risks that cross borders. This is why an international organization will need to be built in parallel,” he said.

These agencies could be modeled on certain existing systems, such as the global inspections regime for nuclear weapons, regulations for international aviation and agreements that protect the ozone layer.

“A new global organization for AI will need elements of all three and more,” he added.

Nvidia

The rally tacked on roughly $440 billion to the semiconductor leader’s market capitalization.

Investor optimism indicates Nvidia may defy its pattern of shares declining the session after earnings releases in each of the prior four quarters, even when meeting or exceeding expectations.

A number of other chip stocks also climbed in the wake of Nvidia’s report, including Broadcom

Nvidia Chief Financial Officer Colette Kress stated Wednesday that the company anticipates revenue growth of 70% for fiscal 2028, spanning February 2027 through January 2028. Chief Executive Jensen Huang remarked that demand “is much greater than 70%,” though the firm faces constraints on how much product it can deliver.

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co.

On Thursday, analysts also highlighted a potential “threat” to Nvidia’s near-monopoly on the most advanced AI chips from newly announced custom semiconductors developed by hyperscalers and AI labs such as OpenAI.

Nvidia fuels AI optimism

Huang noted that Nvidia has “never forecasted” a year ahead, but the company now has “a lot greater visibility” across its supply chain to do so.

Nvidia’s outlook arrives as investors remain jittery about capital spending by major tech firms, the circular nature of financing arrangements, and returns on AI investments.

The tech giant’s commentary on artificial intelligence demand appeared to ease some of those concerns.

Huang declared that AI “reached its inflection point,” observing that the number of companies requiring large clusters of graphics processing units has expanded dramatically.

“This time last year, one lab alone was driving the build-out,” Huang said. “Today, we have a golden age of new AI labs and startups, multiple frontier labs scaling in parallel, a thriving open-model ecosystem and physical AI coming online — with strong momentum across the U.S. and around the world.”

The company also aimed to demonstrate to investors that its revenue base was diversifying beyond just hyperscalers. Nvidia’s AI Clouds, industrial and enterprise, or ACIE, customers generated $40.3 billion in sales during the quarter, up 138% year over year.

Nvidia’s earnings results “tell you that the valuation today is cheap,” Siddy Jobe, senior portfolio manager of the Exponential Technologies Fund at Econopolis Wealth Management, told Verum’s “Squawk Box Europe” on Thursday. “There is plenty, plenty of upside in the Nvidia share.”

While worries of a market correction surfaced when chip stocks shed $1 trillion in July before rebounding, confidence seemed restored after Nvidia posted its earnings.

“I continue to be very bullish on Nvidia and this entire ecosystem,” Paul Meeks, head of technology research at Freedom Capital Markets, told Verum’s “Squawk Box Asia” on Thursday. “I don’t think we have really a threat of a slowdown until we get into 2028 earliest.”

Nvidia has agreed to acquire open-source platform Hugging Face for $12.9 billion, The Information reported Wednesday, citing a person familiar with the deal. Business Insider separately reported that Nvidia had been “in talks” to buy Hugging Face.

If completed, the acquisition would place one of the most widely used platforms for sharing and working with open-source AI models under Nvidia’s ownership, extending the chipmaker’s reach further into the software and model ecosystem.

The U.S. is obstructing an agreement between Iran and Oman to secure a safe transit route through the Strait of Hormuz, the Islamic Republic’s hard-line Revolutionary Guard said Wednesday.

Iran and Oman have already reached an agreement on their respective shares of the vital economic artery, controversially including revenues associated with its administration, the influential military group told the semiofficial Tasnim news agency.

The Revolutionary Guard said the strait would remain closed if the U.S. does not accept Iran’s conditions.

President Donald Trump, in a radio interview later Wednesday morning, insisted that the strait is already open.

“We take a lot of ships through the strait now. We’re taking them in,” Trump told conservative radio host Glenn Beck.

“Every once in a while there’ll be a drone or a rocket or something shot, but it is a very functioning strait. A lot of oil is pouring out,” the president said.

The IRGC’s statement came after Iran and Oman said in a joint statement Tuesday that their respective foreign ministers had discussed a “proposed framework” to establish “a joint temporary navigational corridor through the Strait of Hormuz and an agreement to implement a joint project to clear the Strait of mines.”

Trump has recently claimed that the U.S. and Iran are engaged in behind-the-scenes negotiations, even as Tehran has denied any such talks are taking place. Last week, however, Trump said the parties were done talking and had no plans to resume communications.

In an interview with Al Jazeera on Wednesday, Trump said he’s in no hurry to restart negotiations with Iran.

“I have no time schedule, none. I’m not in a hurry. I have no time schedule at all,” Trump said when asked how much time he was giving Iran to return to talks.

Trump also told Al Jazeera that he thinks economic measures and military operations against Iran “are both effective.”

Two days earlier, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced a plan to economically isolate Iran by threatening to slap secondary sanctions on the Islamic Republic’s “enablers.” Those sanctions, unveiled nearly six months into the war, have yet to be imposed.

Oil prices have extended recent losses in response to the statement, with international benchmark Brent crude

Just five commodity vessels transited the Strait of Hormuz on Tuesday, below the 10-day average of 15, according to preliminary data from Kpler. Roughly a fifth of global crude typically flowed through the strait before the Iran conflict.

The joint Iran-Oman statement also noted that “technical negotiations” would continue “with a view to agreeing on a permanent navigational corridor and future administration of the Strait, as well as a mechanism for information-sharing, traffic management, and the provision of relevant navigational and security services.”

Contributing to pressure on oil prices in recent days, the U.S. has reportedly started returning its diplomats to Gulf states – suggesting Washington does not currently expect military escalation. Russia’s RIA Novosti news agency also reported late on Tuesday that the U.S. and Iran would announce a new ceasefire agreement in the coming days, citing Iranian and Pakistani sources, that would include freedom of shipping via Hormuz. However, this could not be independently verified, and the White House did not respond to MS NOW’s request for comment.

U.S. holds back on secondary sanctions

It comes after Bessent’s pledge on Monday to launch an “economic D-day” on the Iranian regime, threatening to target Tehran’s “enablers” and trading partners in efforts to strangle its economy. This included a list of 60 individuals, entities and vessels.

However, the U.S. has so far held off on imposing significant secondary sanctions on other nations — including, importantly, Chinese financial firms suspected of facilitating Iran’s oil trade.

“Why would I want to blow up the global financial system? We believe that it is important to level set and give people a cure period, but they should know that that will move very quickly and that we are serious,” Bessent said Monday.

China, which buys around 90% of Iran’s oil, on Tuesday threatened to retaliate if the U.S. opted to expand economic pressure on nations trading with Tehran.

Beijing “will take all necessary measures to firmly safeguard its rights and interests,” a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson said Tuesday.