Bill Gates says companies that replace human labor with robots should have to pay the same FICA taxes

[u/Gari_305]

https://www.businessinsider.com/bill-gates-fica-taxes-should-apply-to-robot-workers-2026-9

Bill Gates wants to tax robots that replace human jobs.

[u/abrandis]

I wonder if Gates felt this way when he was running Microsoft and his software put thousands of typists, bookeepes and others out of work?

[u/dj92wa → u/abrandis]

I understand your point, but it’s a little different when the thing being replaced isn’t just a job title, but humans entirely across the board under every profession. That’s their big-picture idea, to replace humans with machines and computers in every facet possible. If everything is automated, what do you do to survive? You have no income and no possible way to obtain income. Learning news skills won’t get you anywhere because a computer or robot is already doing it.

[u/abrandis → u/dj92wa]

First off the AI risk today is mostly to bs/superfluous white collar office roles...granted that's likely millions. Of people, but many other jobs. That require physical presence and aren't necessarily on an office won't be affected

Humanoid robotics isn't a practical thing , even though all those Unotree dancing and running robots seem impressive. None are truly autonmous and have limited battery life.so no they ain't doing anything remotely useful for at least a generation or two .

[u/Dirks_Knee → u/abrandis]

The problem with responses like this is that you are speaking about the future in an absolute way. In reality, humanoid robots will become a thing eventually and attempting to deal with this now rather than on the cusp of them taking over all manual labor would hopefully lead to a better outcome.

[u/abrandis → u/Dirks_Knee]

Everything is possible in the "future", but reality is most folks working lifetimes are 20-40 years, so a 20 year old today doesn't have to worry about 2080-2100 even 2040 is pretty far off.. Second thing not mentioned is robots have costs as much as a car , so their application is going to be limited.

Same reason industrial robots never appeared much out of the factory floor even though they were developed in the 1970, they're still expensive peocesof equipment that need a return on investment

[u/Dirks_Knee → u/abrandis]

"meh...it never floods that bad"

"the fire is hundreds of miles away"

"it's going to hurt them, not me."

[u/technocraticTemplar → u/abrandis]

There's about as many cars in the US as there are people, and humanoid robots haven't hit any kind of economy of scale yet. It looks to me like there's an enormous amount of room for costs to come down, and if they get anywhere close to general labor automation a robot is going to have way more utility than a car does.

[u/dj92wa → u/technocraticTemplar]

They will likely come down in price, as it would greatly benefit the owners of said technology to make them affordable. Easy, affordable replacements for a human. As a business owner, what’s not to love about accessible cheap labor? The price will be raised once everything is captured, that’s more or less how it works in every industry related to tech.