I really don't get how opinions on intellectual property and its "theft" turn 180 whenever AI is mentioned.

That's why one should not trust billionaires who make noises about changing the world for the better. It is merely to stoke their egos. I'm not even religious anymore but I still remember being taught that it is better to share the success without bragging about it. There are genuinely good rich folks, but they don't brag about how nice they are. Chuck Feeney, the billionaire founder of Duty Free, quietly donated the majority of his wealth by the time he died. He was left with $2 million after the donations and was renting an apartment in New York. There is also a millionaire who built houses for the homeless. But I would say that the "good ones" are far and few.

However, the darker side of trying to "be rich and be quiet about it" are some billionaires donating to regressive causes. I think I don't need to mention the Koch brothers and Murdochs. Being the "power behind the throne" is more effective way to actually wield power. That's why I don't think ridding Trump will solve anything unless there is a more robust system to prevent money in politics being put ever again.

And for any of the people saying "he changed".

One of his most recent "philanthropic" ventures was to partner with Nestle (good start) to "modernize and increase yields" of the dairy industries in impoverished countries.

The two organizations then sold modern (likely non-servicable) equipment and entrenched them in corporate supply chain systems geared towards export and making it much harder to trade locally (not sure how that part worked, but was in what I read).

For a grand total of........ 1% increased dairy yields.

Then 3-4 years later they pulled out, leaving heavily indebted farmers without the corporate supply chains and delivery systems they were forced to switch to, and making it very difficult to switch back to the old ways of working, so they can't sell nearly as much locally.

Who do you think will buy up those farms when the farmers go bankrupt and have to sell ar rock bottom prices.

He’s still the same sociopath as always, except now with a savior complex. Giving away all his money, is he? His foundation has been around 25 years and he still has $100b+ net worth. A single individual shouldn’t have that much power, and the fact that he still voluntarily wields it while virtue signaling affirms every negative opinion of him. Even if he were the benevolent billionaire his PR campaign would have us believe he is, such a net worth should be reserved for governments where it’s spread across multiple agencies that have checks and balances and are accountable to voters. I don’t trust any individual with that much power, though I’d trust any random person off the street over anyone ruthless enough to become a billionaire.

He was friends with Jeffrey Epstein after he was convicted for child abuse. Bill Gates is just an awful awful billionaire.

Did you also read that he taught himself code by reading out print outs in the trash? He wanted to close that ability to learn. Shut that open stuff down and make licenses, while he himself learned from others.

We all know that every billionaire is a horrible person. They can't be anything else.

AstraZenica COVID vaccine was going to be opensource but he used with weight as a donor to pressure the university to sell it to a firm he had ownership instead

from the letter

What hobbyist can put 3-man years into programming, finding all bugs, documenting his product and distribute for free?

Im all for giving fair or even plentiful compensation to developers who made our softwares. But, how times and hindsight made this passage sounds like, "wait you guys got paid?"