The billionaire founder of Sun Microsystems Vinod Khosla talks to Creative Destruction Lab Founder Ajay Agrawal about the AI-generated opportunities (and dangers) that lie ahead. In particular, he points to the potential of AI to increase income disparity to dangerous levels that could lead to societal unrest. He also argues that lower skilled jobs like truck driver and restaurant worker will likely be fine, but that higher skilled knowledge-based jobs like radiologists are in trouble. On the bright side, AI could eradicate unsatisfying work; we are at the beginning of a continuous 'hypercycle' of innovation; and the future is shapeable: Technology doesn't rule; it serves. We get to decide on its goals.

The promise of clean-energy technologies makes this renowned venture capitalist optimistic about the world's economic future. He foresees many "cleantech" successes that will pave the way to better times.

The current high level of venture capital investment is driving enormous innovation in business. About 40% of the growth in the U.S. GDP is coming out of the tech sector, and most of that can be traced to the vibrancy of entrepreneurial initiatives, according to accomplished entrepreneur and venture capitalist Vinod Khosla. But in a wide-ranging interview, Khosla says greed is at a high level, too, and he's concerned about its effect on entrepreneurs and their infant businesses. Today, an entrepreneur with a plan for a new business can get funded within a week. But the entrepreneur doesn't get an honest, painstaking critique. The weaknesses of the plan are often ignored. The result is that great ideas don't reach their full potential. Khosla touches on the qualities required of today's entrepreneurs and the difficulties that established companies face in adapting to the Internet. He also offers some of his secrets for finding and exploiting the biggest new technologies.