If he didn't drop out then, what would make him drop out today?
That was the gist of the question presented to Bill Gates in his recent talk at Columbia University with fellow billionaire Warren Buffett. Gates gamely answered artificial intelligence, energy and biology.
Artificial Intelligence
At the recently-concluded CES 2017, one of the main stars was Alexa. The digital assistant from Amazon is just one of the many forms of artificial intelligence that are being introduced today. Aside from Alexa, there's Siri, Cortana, Bixby, Google Assistant and Mark Zuckerberg's very own home AI, Jarvis.
Gates recognizes the potential of the artificial intelligence in many aspects. A number of companies are already incorporating AI into everyday things such as phones, cars, speakers, security systems, and other smart home devices.
For Google's part, the company boasts of having developed the Google DeepMind which racked up a win recently against the best Go player in the world. According to Fortune, no one expected a computer to master the traditional board game but DeepMind's victory means a big win for Google and AI in general.
Biotechnology
Gates is a proponent of DNA vaccines and sees this as an important piece of biotechnology. The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is helping in the development of new vaccines along with various ways of administering them.
Energy Sector
The demand for green energy has been emerging in recent years and the billionaire (soon-to-be trillionaire) techie sees this as a great career opportunity. People are slowly but gradually embracing the idea that the world's resources are not infinite thus a "reliable, cheap and clean" sustainable energy has become a necessity.
Gates is not the only big name in tech to have the same line of thinking. Tesla CEO Elon Musk has started developing solar roof tiles which will help households lower their energy consumption while helping the environment in the process.
