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How do other tech CEOs like Bill Gates view universal basic income?
Executive summary
Bill Gates has repeatedly said he is sympathetic to cash transfers but believes universal basic income (UBI) is premature for most countries because they lack the fiscal capacity to let people stop working; he said “even the U.S. isn’t rich enough” for a full UBI while suggesting countries may be able to afford it over time [1] [2]. Reporting from 2017 through 2022 frames his position as cautious rather than categorically opposed: he prefers targeted help for poverty now and sees technology creating future wealth that could change feasibility [2] [3].
1. Gates’ headline position: “Too early, not opposed”
Bill Gates’ most consistent message in the reporting provided is that he is not an outright opponent of giving people money, but he thinks a universal, unconditional basic income on the scale many advocates imagine is not practical today because most countries — including the U.S. — “aren’t financially equipped” to sustain it and “even the U.S. isn’t rich enough to allow people not to work” [1] [2]. That formulation recurs across profiles and excerpts from his 2017 comments and later summaries [2] [3].
2. Rationale he gives: automation, jobs and where wealth should go
Gates rejects the urgent automation panic that drives some UBI advocacy; he argues technology will create wealth and new opportunities, and that increased public resources should first be used to staff and finance sectors with real labor needs rather than to suppose people can stop working entirely [1] [2]. This frames his stance as pragmatic: acknowledge displacement risks, but prioritize directing gains from technology to areas that still require human labor [2].
3. Nuance: supportive of cash transfers for poverty, skeptical of “universal” now
Multiple sources say Gates isn’t opposed to giving money to lift people out of poverty, but he distinguishes that from a universal program that would let people opt out of work on a nationwide scale; his preference is targeted assistance until fiscal and social conditions change [2] [4]. Reporting frames this as a pragmatic-philanthropic distinction rather than ideological rejection [2].
4. How other tech leaders compare (context from the same era)
Contemporaneous coverage noted other tech figures took different public stances: Mark Zuckerberg used a Harvard commencement address to push UBI-style ideas, and outlets catalogued a range of billionaire views on UBI in 2017 — from endorsement to caution — placing Gates on the cautious side [5] [4]. Available sources do not provide direct quotes from Bezos, Buffett or Zuckerberg in this bundle beyond indicating they were part of the broader public conversation around 2017 [5].
5. Sources, timing and limits of the record
The quotes and summaries here are drawn mainly from Gates’ 2017 public comments and later writeups and analyses [1] [2] [3]. Those items encapsulate his stance at that time: sympathetic to poverty relief but seeing UBI as premature for most nations. Later shifts in Gates’ views — if any — are not mentioned in the supplied reporting; available sources do not mention subsequent changes to his UBI stance after 2017 beyond restatements and summaries [1] [2].
6. Why the nuance matters for policy debates
Gates’ position—support for targeted cash transfers plus caution about universal programs—matters because it reframes the argument from ideological “for/against” to practical questions of fiscal capacity and transitions: how to fund assistance, which populations to prioritize, and how to direct technological gains. Analysts and advocates who argue for immediate, large-scale UBI face a counterpoint grounded in fiscal realism and job-market prioritization [1] [2].
7. Where reporting disagrees or leaves gaps
The materials here are consistent in portraying Gates as cautious; they do not include strong disagreements from Gates or others directly contradicting his fiscal-constraint argument in these pieces. Coverage such as the CNBC roundup places Gates among a spectrum of billionaire views, implying debate exists but the provided sources do not give extensive opposing quotes to Gates’ claims [5]. Available sources do not mention detailed fiscal modeling offered by Gates to back his “not rich enough” claim [1] [2].
8. Bottom line for readers
If you want a concise take: Bill Gates supports direct poverty relief but says full, universal basic income is premature for now because of fiscal constraints and because technology-generated wealth should, in his view, be used to fill labor gaps and fund targeted social needs; other tech CEOs have voiced a range of positions, with some more enthusiastic and others more cautious, though the supplied sources mainly document Gates’ cautious stance [2] [5].