Bill Gates Pushes Back on Donald Trump's AI 'Hoax' Claim: 'Most of Society Is Still Not Aware' How Fast It's Moving

Bill Gates pushed back on Donald Trump's skeptical AI views, claiming they reflected a societal blind spot.

"He's in the same place that everyone else is on this, where at first you're like, 'How come this isn’t just like the technologies of the past?'" Gates, 70, said during the Monday, September 21, episode of CBS Mornings.

Gates was asked by host Gayle King to respond to Trump's earlier claims that AI was a "hoax," as in a Truth Social post on September 14, Trump, 80, claimed that the only "control" that AI needed was a "strong and smart president."

The Microsoft founder said he was "looking forward" to speaking with the POTUS "directly" about "legitimate concerns" with the new technology, which include bioterrorism, financial hacks and other destructive acts.

“This is not someone who has a fixed opinion. He takes in data," Gates continued. "If he wants to get credit for helping the entire world, the AI topic is his best bet. The leader that brings people together there will deserve positive recognition."

The tech entrepreneur made headlines last month when he published an essay, warning that AI was transforming the economy at a pace much faster than previous technology revolutions.

"AI will take on work in law, customer service, medicine, software and manufacturing. It will hit these industries rapidly, over the course of a decade rather than a few generations," Gates wrote in the piece shared on his personal website. "There will be some new jobs, but without the right policies, there will be far fewer than exist today."

Despite the negatives, Gates stands behind the innovative technology. His philanthropic organization, the Gates Foundation, pledged on Monday, September 21, to spend $1 billion on advancing large language models in languages beyond English.

"We want in places like Africa, where there are so few doctors, where a patient could speak in their native language and describe their symptoms [to an AI app]," he explained during the daytime show. "The quality of support for most of the world's languages is very, very poor."

Trump announced on September 19 that he planned to create an AI task force and appoint a "czar" to lead.

"We will not in any way hinder or stifle the Growth of this incredible Industry. Rather, we will cherish it, help it, and watch over it, as it grows! However, we will also be looking for BAD," Trump wrote via his Truth Social account. "We can do that, very easily, with our already existing Criminal and Civil Justice System. For this purpose, I am forming the AI Force."

The businessman asked that "only high I.Q. individuals" apply for the czar position, adding, "AI is the next Industrial Revolution, or Internet, but will be even larger and more impactful, possibly as much as 25 percent of our Country’s GDP."