'Hire the robot, fire the human': Bill Gates warns AI will wipe out nearly all jobs, even manual labour

The Microsoft billionaire blames a business 'incentive structure' that rewards bosses for swapping staff for machines. He predicts humanoid robots within two to eight years, building houses, growing food and even performing surgery. Gates wants a 'token tax' on AI use. He says he would have paid $40bn in tax rather than the $14bn he has paid in his lifetime.

Gates calls AI an 'evolutionary event' that ends humans' reign as Earth's smartest beings.

He warns of a 20-year transition as 'tumultuous' as any in human history.

Barclays announced last week that it will replace 5,000 jobs with AI by year's end.