Bill Gates calls for some jobs to be ‘Human Reserved,’ suggests taxing AI tokens and robots — billionaire says that ‘AI era will be one of the most turbulent times in human history’

While the unprecedented pace of development of artificial intelligence and its impact on human society is being discussed widely among academic circles, Bill Gates says that nations and governments are not doing enough to prepare their citizens for the upcoming upheaval this technology will deliver. The billionaire said in the GatesNotes blog that the world needs a plan to face the changes that AI will bring, proposing measures including reserving jobs for humans and taxing AI tokens. While other experts and academics equate it with other technologies like computers and the internet, Gates argues that people had decades to get used to the latter and incorporate it in processes and workflows, while the former is already widely available today.

Because of this, he pointed out that people today are facing risks brought about by AI, such as job loss, the use of the tool by bad actors, and the replacement of genuine human relationships, especially among children. Gates said that he will focus on other issues in later posts but dived into the issues of job security and income taxes in his commentary. He said that entry-level jobs have fallen significantly, making it harder for fresh graduates to gain experience and increase their skills. The former Microsoft chairperson acknowledged that society needs time to make adjustments but also pointed out that it might be too late for some unless there is some kind of intervention. “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,” Gates wrote.

Gates said that as AI and robots improve and replace humans in different tasks, some jobs should be marked as “Human Reserved.” He likened the term to nature reserves, places that people could have developed but didn’t “because the loss would be too great.” These jobs don’t have to be static positions that will stay the same for the rest of time but could be a slow evolution where AI tools are slowly introduced across years and decades. This is particularly important for industries whose practitioners would be displaced by AI and wouldn’t be able to pivot to other skills, citing a 55-year-old who has worked in construction their whole life and is not able to transition to the health industry as an example. He also mentioned that some jobs will never be fully taken over by AI as they require some form of human touch, like education and healthcare.

The billionaire philanthropist also noted that the reduction of human employees would also equate to a reduction in the individual income taxes that governments collect. The U.S. Treasury said that more than half of the federal revenue came from individual income taxes in 2025 and 2026, meaning falling employment would also make a huge impact on the government’s coffers. The current tax setup encourages executives to replace people with robots, which are often tax-deductible expenses. He instead suggested that the government should tax AI tokens and robots — aside from helping the federal balance sheet, it will also motivate businesses to prioritize hiring and keeping people instead of buying machines.

Artificial intelligence is indeed a technological marvel, but it also comes with several risks that must be addressed head-on. Bill Gates says that the debate around AI, its use, and its impact on us should be discussed widely among workers, students, community leaders, religious leaders, parents, educators, and more, not just the few who control it.