Bill Gates told an AI chatbot he was 'overly intense' and 'didn't believe in weekends' in Microsoft's early days

• Bill Gates said he was "overly intense" and "didn't believe in weekends" early on in his career.
• He made the comments in an interview with an AI chatbot with UK prime minister Rishi Sunak.

Microsoft cofounder Bill Gates said he was "overly intense" and "didn't believe in weekends" during the company's early days in an interview with an AI chatbot on Friday.

"I was kinda overly intense. I didn't believe in weekends, I didn't believe in vacation. There were a lot of people that probably could have helped me that just didn't fit in because I had this very narrow view of the working style and the talking style," Gates said.

The Microsoft cofounder made the comments in an interview with questions posed by an AI chatbot along with UK prime minister Rishi Sunak. The discussion at Imperial College, London, covered topics including AI, technology and innovation.

Gates was asked by the chatbot how he would approach his work differently if he could go back in time and speak with his younger self at the beginning of his career.

The billionaire and philanthropist responded that his working habits were "okay" for the nascent Microsoft, but as the company grew he realized he was "very intense" on himself and "tried to apply that to other people."

Gates was also asked to recall the most important advice he's received and how it's affected his approach to life. He mentioned comments made by billionaire investor Warren Buffet about what friends think of you and "how strong those friendships are."

Gates also referenced advice from scientist Richard Feynman: "He always said it's good to show your confusion because if you let yourself pretend to know something, then your thinking gets sloppy and you won't be able to figure things out at all. So being tough on 'do you really get things' has been super helpful for me."

A video of the interview was posted on the 10 Downing Street YouTube channel.

It was not clear whether the AI in question was ChatGPT, which was launched in November by OpenAI. Microsoft put $1 billion in the AI firm in 2019 and made a further investment of a reported $10 billion in OpenAI last month.

The AI chatbot has been put to a wide range of uses since its launch, including writing code, cover letters and passing university exams. Gates said in the interview that he's used AI to write notes, poems and songs and create images.

Representatives for Gates did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment, made outside normal working hours.