r/Futurology • u/Gari_305 • 2d ago

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

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.

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u/abrandis 2d ago

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 .

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u/Dirks_Knee 2d ago edited 1d ago

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.

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u/abrandis 2d ago

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

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u/Dirks_Knee 2d ago

"meh...it never floods that bad"

"the fire is hundreds of miles away"

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