Bill Gates said ChatGPT will 'change our world' by making the workplace more efficient

• Bill Gates said ChatGPT will "change our world" in an interview with a German newspaper.
• He added that the AI tool will make office jobs more efficient by writing invoices or letters.

Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates is optimistic about the future of AI tool ChatGPT saying it "will change our world" in an interview with German business newspaper Handelsblatt published on Friday.

"Until now, artificial intelligence could read and write, but could not understand the content. The new programs like ChatGPT will make many office jobs more efficient by helping to write invoices or letters. This will change our world," the billionaire said according to a translation of the interview published by Reuters.

ChatGPT was launched in November by Microsoft-backed OpenAI and has seen its users rise to an estimated 100 million in just two months — making it the fastest growing app of all-time.

The AI chatbot has piqued users' curiosity with its wide-ranging abilities including being able to write cover letters, pass university-level exams, and even code.

Gates said in an interview with Forbes that AI tools including ChatGPT have some "exciting" use cases for humans including being a "math tutor" for students, and giving "medical advice" to people who can't go to see a doctor.

"This is every bit as important as the PC, as the internet," he said in the interview adding that it's going to be "debated as the hottest topic of 2023."

Microsoft announced a multibillion-dollar investment in OpenAI in January, reportedly amounting to $10 billion. This was after it invested $1 billion in the AI firm in 2019.

The tech giant just revealed its updated search engine Bing created in collaboration with OpenAI. Microsoft said it is "more powerful than ChatGPT."

ChatGPT's success has prompted Google to publicly launch its own AI chatbot, Bard, which it unveiled this week.