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Bill Gates shares the 3 ways young people can stay ahead in the AI era

The more things change, the more they stay the same.

via Philippe Buissin/Wikimedia Commons

Bill Gates, Chair of the Gates Foundation.

We are at the dawn of a new era of artificial intelligence, which brings an incredible number of opportunities in the fields of medicine, robotics, and agriculture. It also has a lot of people worried about the future of the labor market. Whereas previous technological innovations have mostly affected blue-collar jobs, AI is set to make big changes to white-collar careers in the worlds of law, media, and banking.

In the short term, many are worried about the swift changes that are about to affect the economy. In the long term, many worry that the AI revolution may create a world where future generations have limited opportunities. How will people support themselves when the labor force is cut in half?

In a recent interview with CNN's Fareed Zakaria, Bill Gates, Microsoft founder and Chair of the Gates Foundation, shared his perspective on how AI is going to change our lives in the near future. At the end of the interview, Zakaria asked Gates what skills young people should develop to live in a world that will be dominated by AI. Gates highlighted the educational opportunities in AI currently available to young people, while also emphasizing his timeless advice on how to stay ahead in changing times.

- YouTube youtu.be

“You can really learn so much. And, the idea of the tutors that people like Khan Academy are building on, how will [that] get that out? All over the world. And so embracing this [and] tracking it will be very, very important," Gates said. "That doesn't guarantee that we're not going to have a lot of dislocation. But I really haven't changed my ‘Be curious, read and use the latest tools,’ recommendations for young people. Be curious, read, and use the latest tools. In this case, AI.”

Bill Gates' advice for young people in the AI era: “Be curious, read, and use the latest tools. In this case, AI.”

During the conversation, Gates also discussed the fear many have that AI will replace more jobs than it will create. He believes that the increase in production will lead to a greater number of opportunities, which will offset those displaced by AI. “If you get less productive, that's bad. And if you get more productive, that's good. It means you can free up these people to have a smaller class size, or have longer vacations, or help to do more," Gates said.

children, children and computers, laptops, smiling girls, classroom, two girls and a laptop, Kids enjoying learning on laptops in classroom.via Canva/Photos

Gates is right to have some concerns over the future, but he’s right to take it with a grain of salt because people have had to deal with changes in technology since well before the development of the wheel. Whether it’s been the printing press, the combustion engine, or the Internet, those who come up on top during times of incredible change are those who are curious and have a genuine interest in the new technology. Those who prefer doing things the old-fashioned way are bound to be relegated to the past. But artificial intelligence is just getting started, and it’s bound to be a big part of our lives in the future. If you have children, it’s best that they grow up learning about this incredible technology so they have every opportunity to be part of this new frontier.

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How Melinda Gates' own history helped shape the billionaire's philanthropy.

Improved access to contraceptives has lasting benefits.

One of the wealthiest women on earth, Melinda Gates, recently opened up about an unexpected secret to her success: contraceptives.

The 52-year-old billionaire businesswoman and philanthropist detailed her intersection of personal and professional success in a blog post for Fortune. In it, she talks about the importance of making contraception available to women around the world, one of the core issues being addressed by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. In doing so, she touches on how important family planning resources were in her own success.

"It’s no accident that my three kids were born three years apart — or that I didn’t have my first child until I'd finished graduate school and devoted a decade to my career at Microsoft," she wrote. "My family, my career, my life as I know it are all the direct result of contraceptives. And now, I realize how lucky that makes me."

President Barack Obama awards the Presidential Medal of Freedom to Microsoft founder Bill Gates and Melinda Gates for their work fighting poverty in 2016. Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images.

In 2012, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation pledged to bring contraception to 120 million women around the world.

The bold strategy, part of the group's Family Planning 2020 initiative, highlights the role that access to birth control has in lifting developing countries out of poverty. In July 2012, the foundation committed to spending more than $1 billion toward contraception access and information. In November 2015, the group committed an additional $120 million to the program.

The 2015 boost was intended to focus on three specific priorities: improving the quality of services and increasing the number of contraceptive options, reaching marginalized committees, and investing in local advocates around the globe to make the case for using family planning services.

In the foundation's most recent annual letter, they recommitted themselves to meeting 2012's ambitious goal. That matters.

While an additional 30.2 million women have access to contraception because of the Gates Foundation's work, they're a little behind the pace needed to hit the 120 million goal.

Copyright 2010 Gates Notes, LLC.

But they've got a plan, and it involves making the most of emerging technologies and long-term birth control solutions, as well as increasing their public advocacy. Overall, the family planning aspect of the Gates Foundation's work is just part of their overall campaign, which also includes improving access to vaccines, reducing infant mortality, and reducing malnutrition in developing countries.

Access to family planning is an essential component of any anti-poverty program.

"When a country sends a generation of healthy, well-educated young people into the workforce, it’s on its way out of poverty," Melinda explained in the foundation's letter. "But this doesn’t happen by accident. No country in the last 50 years has emerged from poverty without expanding access to contraceptives."

On Twitter, she posted a short video explaining how family planning triggers a "virtuous cycle."

With President Trump's reinstatement of the global gag rule, the Gates Foundation's renewed commitment to making contraception accessible is more important than ever.

In one of his first acts as president, Trump reinstated the so-called "global gag rule," a Reagan-era policy that restricts U.S. funding to organizations that so much as mention abortion as part of their family planning services. At risk is roughly $9.5 billion in global health funding. In a move that is ostensibly meant to reduce abortion, the likely result is a decrease in overall family planning services for women around the world, meaning more unplanned pregnancies, which means, yes, more abortions.

In recent years, the U.S. has seen its teen pregnancy rate drop by 25% for two really simple reasons: increasing access to contraception and improved sex education. After making access to long-term birth control available for free, Colorado saw its own teen pregnancy rate drop by 40%!

In her letter, Gates explained how she came to understand the global need for contraceptive access beyond her own personal experience.

"Most of the women I talk to in the field bring up contraceptives. I remember visiting the home of a mother in Niger named Sadi, whose six children were competing for her attention as we talked. She told me, 'It wouldn’t be fair for me to have another child. I can’t afford to feed the ones I have,'" Gates wrote.

"In a Kenyan slum, I met a young mother named Mary who had a business selling backpacks from scraps of blue-jean fabric. She invited me into her home, where she was sewing and watching her two small children. She used contraceptives because, she said, 'Life is tough.' I asked if her husband supported her decision. She said, 'He knows life is tough, too.'"

Photo by Jemal Countess/Getty Images.

For more information on the Gates Foundation's work getting contraceptives to women in developing countries, check out the video below.

While Upworthy has a proud partnership with The Gates Foundation, I was not paid by the foundation to write this article.

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A surprising solution to global poverty, from one of the wealthiest men in the world.

"Can a chicken change the world?"

It's an intriguing question. It appeared on a minimalist poster board outside the elevator on the 68th floor of 4 World Trade Center in downtown Manhattan on June 8, 2016.

"It begins with a chicken," read another sign.

Photo by Jon Comulada/Upworthy.

Behind the signs was a makeshift chicken coop — built out of selectively shabby wood and wire — placed amid stunning views of lower Manhattan and the Hudson River.

Inside the makeshift chicken coop were 13 chickens and ... one of the richest men in the world.

Photo by Jon Comulada/Upworthy.

Yep, that's right. Billionaire tech CEO and philanthropist Bill Gates was standing in a chicken coop.

Gates, the godfather of Silicon Valley and the man against whom all American wealth is measured, really isn't your stereotypical cartoon billionaire, like Mr. Burns from "The Simpsons."

In fact, despite his Burns-esque body language in the picture above, he's kind of the opposite. Instead of dumping chemicals in the local watering hole or stowing away cash in the Cayman Islands, Bill and his wife Melinda spend their time and incredible wealth doing ... well ... good things.

So, what good things was Gates planning to do with all these chickens?

The chickens are part of his latest initiative: Coop Dreams.

Photo by Jon Comulada/Upworthy.

Started by Heifer International, Coop Dreams is now supported by Gates, who is donating 100,000 chickens to extremely impoverished communities all over the world.

The Gates Foundation does a lot of work with agriculture around the world, although so far its focus has largely been on seeds.

While Gates says they've made good strides creating seeds that are "more productive and disease-resistant," he also explained, over the chorus of clucking birds, "There’s a huge part of it now that has to do with livestock."

Livestock — in this case chickens — is a gift that keeps on giving, Gates says. Chickens are an economic opportunity that literally multiplies itself and can help lift people out of poverty.

A Coop Dreams starter kit includes a rooster and several hens.

Within a year, farmers can have hundreds of egg-laying chickens. They can eat the chickens, eat the eggs, or sell the chickens in nearby cities for around $5 U.S. They can then use the money to buy food, medicine, or anything else they need.

In time, a farmer who raises and sells 250 chickens per year can bring in around $1,250 annually.

Photo by Jon Comulada/Upworthy.

Once Coop Dreams hands out the starter kits, they stick around to teach participants how to house, feed, vaccinate, and otherwise care for the new flocks.

Right now in West Africa, only 5% of households own chickens, Gates says. He hopes Coop Dreams will help get that number up to about 30%.

To be fair, not every country is interested in chicken gifts. The government of Bolivia, led by President Evo Morales, rejected Gates' chicken donation because of its policy of turning down Western development aid.

The chickens are gifted to small, independent farmers for their own benefit, not major farms that stimulate the country-wide economy.

Annie Bergman has seen the world-changing power of chickens firsthand.

As part of her job as the global communications Director for Heifer International, Bergman visits communities that have received chickens to see how the project is affecting their lives.

Photo by Jon Comulada/Upworthy.

"We did a lot of earthquake relief with the folks that were affected [in Nepal] last year," Bergman told Upworthy of her recent trip.

"I saw one woman who had been raising chickens and lost a number of her livestock due to exposure and shock after the earthquake. [She] took her savings and reinvested specifically in chickens. When we went in with her, with her chickens, her face just immediately lit up. It was clear that this was the path for her to continue, even though she had lost everything months beforehand."

As the parable goes: "Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime." In the case of Coop Dreams, instead of fish, it's chickens. And instead of men, it's women.

"You can go through crop by crop," Gates told us. "Some crops — both men and women do. Some are almost entirely men."

Chicken-rearing, which requires regular tending, is a chore controlled almost entirely by the women of the household.

Mbene Sarr, a Coop Dreams participant. Image via YouTube/Heifer International.

There's a doubly cool benefit to giving women the responsibility of managing the chicken coops: Study after study shows that when income starts flowing to women in these communities, everyone benefits.

Why? According to Gates, "If you get the income going to the mother, then it’s used for nutrition and school fees a higher percentage of the time than if it’s going to the male."

The most amazing part of Coop Dreams is the way it encourages recipients to spread the wealth — "wealth" being chickens, of course.

Participants in the Coop Dreams program are required — yes, required — to donate their flock's first offspring to another family in need. Heifer International calls it "passing on the gift."

Farmers generally donate their chicks to another family in their community, and often donate to the younger generation, which has a multiplicative effect on their community's ability to escape extreme poverty.

Photo by Jon Comulada/Upworthy.

So — what's the answer? Can a chicken change the world?

Extreme poverty is a problem that is both gigantic and multifaceted. There is no one solution to it, and of course Bill Gates knows that.

Perhaps the irony of unveiling a solution to global poverty in one of the most expensive pieces of real estate in the world wasn't lost on Bill. Maybe it was even intentional. We can all help the world move forward, and we don't have to be billionaires to do it. We just have to be paying attention.

And yes, the chickens are a tiny, clucking, head-bopping step in that direction.

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