Bill Gates: Bad actors misuse AI, AI costing you jobs, the biggest concern for humanity's future in the next 10 years!

Bill Gates pointed out in his 2026 annual letter that AI will accelerate innovation in healthcare and education, but misuse and employment impacts are key challenges that require policy measures to manage risks.

Microsoft founder Bill Gates recently released his 2026 annual letter, sharing insights on AI, healthcare, climate, charity, and other fields. He remains optimistic about the future but also admits that the current global landscape faces more complex challenges, believing that AI will bring about significant changes in 2026.

In his letter, Gates wrote that although he remains optimistic about the benefits AI brings to innovation, he adds a few “notes” of caution, raising three key questions. These questions highlight whether, as AI develops rapidly, its social impacts can be minimized.

Gates believes 2026 will be a critical year for humanity to adapt to AI-driven change. He is very optimistic about AI’s potential, believing it can help reduce inequality, make quality healthcare accessible, benefit patients and healthcare workers, and even assist in addressing climate change by providing farmers with advice on weather, pests, and diseases.

Two Major Challenges for AI in the Next Decade: Misuse and Impact on Employment

However, he also points out that AI may pose two major challenges over the next ten years: malicious misuse and employment disruption. AI has already begun affecting roles in software development, warehousing, customer service, and more, and as AI capabilities improve, these impacts could intensify.

He urges governments to take action by formulating policies to reduce potential impacts and the widening wealth gap, minimizing AI’s negative effects.

Gates shares that he sees the current impact of AI on the workforce as somewhat similar to the era when personal computers first became widespread—boosting productivity and creating huge demand, but also threatening many jobs. Overall, he believes that if problems are anticipated early and preparations are made, he remains optimistic about the future.

Full Text of Bill Gates’ Annual Letter

I have always been an optimist. When I founded Microsoft, I believed that the digital revolution driven by excellent software could make the world a better place; when I started the Gates Foundation, I saw opportunities to save and improve millions of lives, especially in critical areas like children’s health, which were severely underfunded at the time.

In both experiences, the outcomes exceeded my expectations. Compared to 70 years ago when I was born, the world is much better now. I believe the world will continue to progress—but today, seeing that progress is more difficult than it has been for a long time.

Friends and colleagues often ask me how I stay optimistic in such a challenging and polarized era. My answer is: I remain optimistic because I see the future that AI-driven innovation can bring. But now, my optimism comes with “notes.”

What pains me most is that last year, the world regressed on a key indicator of progress: the number of children under five who die each year. Over the past 25 years, the decline in child mortality has been the fastest in history. But in 2025, this number increased for the first time this century, rising from 4.6 million in 2024 to 4.8 million in 2025, mainly due to reduced aid from wealthy countries to poorer nations. Unless we restore aid budgets, this trend will continue.

The next five years will be tough as we strive to get back on track and expand the deployment of life-saving tools. Nonetheless, I remain optimistic about the long-term future. No matter how difficult last year was, I do not believe we will regress into darkness. I believe that within the next decade, we can not only get the world back on track but also enter an unprecedented new era of progress.

The key to innovation remains unchanged. Think about it: HIV diagnosis once meant a death sentence. Today, thanks to revolutionary therapies, infected individuals can expect a lifespan nearly equal to that of others. By the 2040s, new technologies may even eliminate deaths caused by AIDS.

Although budget cuts have limited the number of people benefiting from these life-saving tools (as painfully seen last year), the fact remains: decades ago, we were helpless in treating AIDS, and now we have made great progress. Breakthroughs, once achieved, cannot be undone. They ensure we won’t return to a world where over 10 million children die annually from preventable diseases—this is a core reason for my optimism about the world.

But as I mentioned, my optimism is with “notes.” While the blueprint for innovation lays a foundation for long-term success, the trajectory of progress depends on how the world addresses three key issues:

Three Key Questions

1. As the world becomes wealthier, will we be more generous to those in need?

In today’s world of record wealth inequality, the Golden Rule—“Do unto others as you would have them do unto you”—is more important than ever. This applies not only to government aid from wealthy nations but also to philanthropy from billionaires both domestically and internationally. In a world with record-breaking numbers of billionaires and even “centibillionaires,” charitable efforts should grow rapidly.

Through the “Giving Pledge,” initiated by Bill Gates, Warren Buffett, and other wealthy individuals, I have had the privilege of working with many outstanding philanthropists who set an example by donating most of their wealth in smart ways. But we need to do more to encourage the wealthy to be even more generous and to show them the immense sense of achievement and impact this can bring.

Regarding aid budgets for poor countries, I am concerned about a number: if healthcare funding decreases by 20%, by 2045, an additional 12 million children could die. I know that cutting budgets cannot be reversed overnight, and even in the most generous countries, aid accounts for less than 1% of GDP. But restoring some of that funding is crucial. The Gates Foundation’s Goalkeepers report details the risks involved and how the world can better utilize these aid resources.

This year, I will dedicate significant effort working with partners to advocate for increased funding for children’s health worldwide. I plan to engage healthcare workers, religious groups, and immigrant communities to advance this mission.

2. Will the world prioritize innovations that promote “equity”?

Some issues cannot be addressed solely through market mechanisms and require more effort.

The first key area is climate change.

Without a global carbon tax (which is unfortunately politically difficult), market forces cannot provide enough incentives to develop emissions-reduction technologies. However, only by replacing all carbon-emitting activities with cheaper alternatives can we prevent temperature rise. That’s why I founded “Breakthrough Energy” ten years ago, and I will continue to invest billions in innovation.

In the past decade, the world has made significant progress, reducing emissions by over 40%. But in challenging sectors like industry and aviation, much work remains in innovation and scaling. Government policies in wealthy countries remain critical because, without scaled innovation, costs won’t fall and the desired impact won’t be achieved.

If we do not curb climate change, it will bring suffering to the world—especially the poorest—comparable to that caused by poverty and infectious diseases. Even under the best scenarios, temperatures will still rise, so we need innovation to minimize negative impacts. This is called “climate adaptation”—a key example being AI-powered tools that help poor farmers choose better seeds and advice, enabling them to maintain yields despite climate shifts. Soon, AI will be able to provide farmers with weather, price, pest, and soil advice that surpasses what even the most wealthy farmers receive today. The foundation has committed $1.4 billion to support farmers facing extreme weather on the front lines.

In the coming years, I will increase investments and donations in climate work, while continuing to prioritize our foundation’s main focus—children’s health.

The second key area is healthcare.

Concerns about healthcare costs and quality are at their peak worldwide. In theory, with the wave of innovation, people should feel optimistic. For example, recent breakthroughs in Alzheimer’s diagnosis will revolutionize detection and prevention (a personally important area for me). Similar progress is being made in obesity, cancer, and in developing countries, malaria, tuberculosis, and malnutrition.

Despite rapid advances, the high costs and complexity of healthcare systems mean few are satisfied with current care. I believe AI can accelerate innovation and directly improve healthcare delivery. Like many, I am already using AI to understand my own health. Imagine when AI becomes more mature and accessible to every patient and healthcare worker—high-quality, readily available medical advice will elevate medicine to new heights.

We are not there yet (developers still need to solve reliability issues and connect AI with healthcare providers), but I am optimistic that large-scale adoption worldwide is imminent. I am closely monitoring this work to ensure that the Gates Foundation and partners enable resource-scarce, under-staffed countries to access these capabilities alongside developed nations.

The third area is education.

AI offers the opportunity to realize the long-held dream of “personalized learning.” This is a current focus of the foundation’s education investments. I have seen firsthand how it empowers teachers and students in New Jersey, and when scaled globally, it will fundamentally change the game.

3. Can we minimize the negative impacts of AI’s rapid development?

Among all human creations, AI will bring the greatest societal change. It can solve many existing problems but also introduces entirely new challenges unlike anything before.

When the AI industry predicts “Artificial General Intelligence” (AGI) or fully capable humanoid robots are imminent but then delays, it can create a false sense that “this will never happen.” However, AI intelligence and robot capabilities have no upper limit, and I believe they will surpass human levels before development stalls.

Two AI Challenges

The two major challenges for the next decade are: malicious use of AI and impact on employment. Both are real risks, and we need more planned development, regulation, and deployment of this technology.

In 2015, I warned the world was unprepared for pandemics. Had we been better prepared then, the suffering from COVID-19 could have been greatly reduced. Today, a bigger risk than natural pandemics is that non-governmental organizations might use open-source AI tools to create biological weapons.

The second challenge is the transformation of the job market. AI enables humans to produce more goods and services with less labor. From a mathematical perspective, we should be able to allocate these new capabilities to benefit everyone. We could shorten working hours or even decide not to use AI in certain fields.

This kind of transformation is hard to simulate. Sometimes, technological progress drives more demand by lowering costs, making the world richer and stimulating demand in other sectors. For example, AI has increased software engineers’ productivity by at least twofold, making programming cheaper but also creating huge demand—similar to the history after the advent of computers.

Even so, the pace of progress is enough to impact employment needs in fields like software development. Warehousing and call centers are not yet fully replaced, but as AI becomes more powerful, impacts will be more direct. Even if the transition takes longer than expected, we should use 2026 to prepare—by developing policies for wealth distribution and managing the societal role of work.

I remain optimistic about the future

Including these “notes,” especially the last point, might make readers think my ongoing optimism is even more surprising. But at the start of 2026, I remain optimistic because of two core human traits:

• The first is our ability to foresee problems and prepare for them, ensuring that new discoveries benefit everyone.
• The second is our capacity to care for each other. Throughout history, you can always find that people not only care for themselves, their families, or their nations but also work for the greater good in the long term.

“Vision” and “care” are these two traits that fill me with hope at the beginning of the year. As long as we continue to exercise these qualities, I believe the coming years will truly be a time of progress.

• This article is reprinted with permission from: 《Digital Age》
• Original title: 《Bill Gates Releases 2026 Annual Letter: “Bad Actors Misusing AI” and “AI Causing Job Loss” Will Be the Biggest Concerns in the Next 10 Years!》
• Original author: Chen Jianjun