Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang is open to ideas on how to share the enormous wealth generated by the rise of AI. He has created billionaires on his executive team, personally ensures his staff receive competitive salaries and is “perfectly on board” with proposals to tax the ultra-rich more. But he disagrees with a proposal by Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates to tax robots and AI tokens. Gates resurfaced his suggestion in an essay this week, writing: “Right now, if you’re an employer and you hire someone, you pay payroll taxes on their earnings. But if you buy a robot, you can usually immediately write it off as a business expense. The tax system pushes you to replace people with machines.” The businessman-turned-philanthropist also suggested that governments will need the funds. Gates estimates that if AI eliminates human jobs, state income tax revenue will fall. “A tax would somewhat slow the abandonment of human labor and raise money for retraining and a stronger safety net,” Gates explained. Huang disagrees. In an interview with Fox Business’ The Claman Countdown, the chipmaker’s boss said: “I love Bill… but I don’t see what he sees. I see something very, very different. And so my remedies will be a little different.” Huang added: “I’m pro-tax. And I think… for anyone who is productive, it’s a great way to contribute to society and the economy. But the fact of the matter is there are probably a lot of different ways to approach this.” Gates, a self-proclaimed optimist on artificial intelligence, struck a markedly more cautious tone in his latest op-ed. He wrote that while AI promises enormous benefits (such as improving access to medicine and education and simplifying bureaucracy), it also poses enormous threats that world leaders are unprepared for. These risks include “delayed” child development, emboldened criminals, and disappearing jobs for Generation Z. Huang’s outlook is more positive. He said that while “of course” the nature of jobs would change, as his already has, “I think… this will be a net job creator. However, there will be a lot of jobs that will be disrupted and that’s why we have to be sensible about it. We have to be sensitive about it and support it.” While Gates suggests that companies could be incentivized to replace humans with robots because of existing tax policy, Huang says historical precedent disagrees: “When companies are more productive, they don’t fire people, they hire more people. The reason is that companies have ambitions… and I would say the vast majority of companies in the world… have ambitions for growth. “When they are more productive, when they are more profitable, [it] It allows us to invest more and seek greater growth. Overall, though, this will be a net job creator on a scale we’ve never seen.” A bid for reindustrialization Huang has previously suggested that skilled, blue-collar workers will benefit significantly from the rise of AI. Huang has said trades such as plumbers and electricians will be in high demand as data centers are built around the world. Speaking this week, the 63-year-old tech titan suggested the new economic era would be one of reindustrialization. He explained: “We have many administrative workers, but we are also going to have a lot of qualified labor. And having a large population of skilled labor and people who build things and make them with their hands is tremendous for America. We want to reindustrialize the United States. We want to create more jobs. And all of that is going to happen right now as we talk to AI.” Fortune Daily breaks down the traditional barrier between audience and newsroom. The show transforms Fortune’s trusted reporting into actionable, conversational and entertaining information for an emerging class of business leaders. Watch here.
