Bill Gates: Fears AI, Likes Bitcoin, Loves Dogs

Bill Gates had a Reddit Secret Santa: This year, Gates received a quilt that was put together by a group of people, as well as a jug of maple syrup, and book titled The Promise of a Pencil. He sent Reddit user Calid7 a helmet of Loki (a villain from Marvel Universe and Thor's brother), in addition to an inscribed coffee-table book of pictures from Africa, a Microbes poliovirus stuffed toy, and a donation in her name to Shot@Life, a program that provides vaccines to children in poor countries.

He loves to read: When asked about a life lesson he learned the hard way, Gates said, "Don't stay up too late even if the book is really exciting. You will regret it in the morning." He admitted that he is "still working on this problem."

He's concerned about machine intelligence: Gates said that in machines' earlier stages they will do jobs for humans, which will bring positive outcomes if managed well. A few decades after that, however, the intelligence will strengthen further. He sides with Elon Musk and others on the idea that machine intelligence poses a risk, and he doesn't understand why more people aren't concerned.

He can only speak one language: When asked about things he regrets, Gates admitted that he wishes he could speak a foreign language like French, Arabic, or Chinese.

He believes in Bitcoin: Gates deemed Bitcoin "an exciting new technology" but will not use it to provide banking to the poor, as he said they shouldn't be using currency with value that increases or decreases compared to their local currency. Such users also need to be able to reverse mistakes in whom they pay, so the anonymity factor of Bitcoin wouldn't work in those circumstances.

His dogs are named after cookies: One is called Oreo and the other is Nilla. One Reddit user (operationopera) pointed out the password-related security risks of sharing his pets' names online, to which another (Harry101UK) helpfully suggested that Gates call his pup OreO5d02.

He predicts the rapid growth of tech: "There will be more progress in the next 30 years than ever," said Gates of technology. In the next 10, he said, speech understanding and translation will improve, and mechanical robots will be able to pick fruit or move hospital patients. He also admitted to working with Microsoft on a "Personal Agent" that will work across devices, remember everything, and help its user find and pay attention to specific things (Cortana, perhaps?).

He's not afraid of risk: The Gates Foundation chose health inequity as its global philanthropy cause and educational inequity as its national cause; Gates stated that most of its projects fit into these two areas. Part of the beauty of philanthropy, he said, is that it's "far more risk-oriented than government or private-sector spending, which makes it special when it is done right."