Bill Gates has said that he doesn’t think the metaverse has been “revolutionary” in the way he claims AI will be, and revealed that his code hasn’t been shipped with a Microsoft product since 1985.
The Microsoft founder’s comments were made during a Reddit Q&A yesterday (January 11), where he fielded questions ranging from his favourite band (U2) to climate change.
Responding to one question, which asked if there was any “mammoth technology shift” akin to the Internet on the horizon, Gates answered that AI fits that bill.
Advertisem*nt
“AI is the big one,” shared Gates, who added that he doesn’t “think Web3 was that big or that metaverse stuff alone was revolutionary but AI is quite revolutionary.”
It’s a sentiment that appears to be shared at the company. In 2021, Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer stated that while tech companies could describe why the metaverse was “better for their company,” they were yet to explain what it offered players.
Last April, it was revealed that Facebook parent company Meta lost £2.3billion trying to develop its vision of a VR metaverse.
Elsewhere in Gates’ Reddit thread, he was asked whether coding remained a hobby, and revealed it has been a long time since his own coding was used in a Microsoft release.
“Yes. I like to play around and code,” answered Gates. “The last time my code shipped in a Microsoft product was 1985 – so a long time ago, I can no longer threaten when I think a schedule is too long that ‘I will come in and code it over the weekend’.”
Advertisem*nt
He also shared that he wishes he could have changed Microsoft’s approach to developing phone operating systems, admitting “Android won” that race, and discussed being a “good friend” with U2 frontman Bono.
In other gaming news, Ubisoft has cancelled three unannounced games and once again delayed Skull & Bones.
