Gateway to what’s to come

‘He’s bit of punk rock, Bill Gates!’ Only U2 singer Bono could liken Bill Gates to that genre and get away with it. Throughout the five-episode docu-series, we look for signs to validate Bono’s claim, but there is none. Not even when the billionaire philanthropist and co-founder of Microsoft asks ChatGPT to craft a text to his son using Gen Z slang, and he with amusement mouths the result — “Yofam, what’s good? How you vibin?” Gates comes across as more of dad material than the punk rock type.

In ‘What’s Next: The Future with Bill Gates’, he is charming, funny and optimistic as he addresses pressing issues currently plaguing the planet, from AI and income inequality to climate change to disease eradication.

“We are building something — wisely or not — way smarter than us,” says a tech expert in the opening episode ‘What AI Can Do For Us/To Us’. “It still needs human collaboration. Luckily. Hopefully,” another chips in.

Amid the technical mumbo-jumbo, as Gates and the show’s producers speak to a number of people who are involved in the development of AI software — OpenAI’s founder Greg Brockman, experts like Dr Fei-Fei Li of Stanford University, Kevin Roose, a technology reporter for The New York Times — the most relatable bit of wisdom comes from filmmaker James Cameron. “It’s getting hard to write science fiction,” says Cameron, who co-wrote ‘The Terminator’ way back in the early ’80s. The point is — technology changes even before he can weave a plot around it.

“What will we replace people’s sense of purpose with?” he asks Gates, as the conversation turns to the adverse effects of AI, like job loss, potential human isolation and misuse of technology for personal agenda.

Bringing in the Titanic metaphor, he cautions tech experts to work out a solution before this AI ship hits the proverbial iceberg.

The other episodes highlight the conspiracy theories about Gates, including the recent vaccine row, climate change and how to tackle it using technology, unequal distribution of wealth (beautifully captured with this quote — “socialism makes people equally poor, capitalism makes people unequally rich”), and eradication of communicable diseases, again with the help of technology.

The series talks about Gates’ contributions toward creating a better future by donating a significant portion of his wealth, in addition to his efforts to persuade over 300 billionaires to pledge half of their wealth to philanthropy after death. The series could have easily become a PR tool for the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, but the makers gave a spin to it by focusing more on the issues Gates is passionate about rather than the man himself. So, mercifully, it’s not Gates whom we see dominating each frame. The problems highlighted here are so real, the analysis so detailed and the solutions proposed are so well thought of that it leaves us with a warm feeling for the man and his foundation for doing the needful.

To make things easier for us, Gates is open and unguarded in the series. He is as attentive while he speaks to famous personalities like Lady Gaga, Bono, Senators Bernie Sanders and Mitt Romney and Dr Anthony Fauci as he discusses those issues with students and unsung activists from around the world. This lands gravitas to the series and the situations.

Sleek cinematography, combined with high-quality VFX images, amplifies the message the series seeks to give out — it’s time we stepped up to undo the damage we have done to our planet. Otherwise, it’s not hard to imagine what’s next!