I have only speculation, but it’s plausible to me that developments in AI could be playing a role. The original decision in 2000 was to sunset “several decades after [Bill and Melinda Gates’] deaths.” Likely the idea was that handpicked successor leadership could carry out the founders’ vision and that the world would be similar enough to the world at the time of their death or disability for that plan to make sense for several decades after the founders’ deaths. To the extent that Gates thought that the world is going to change more rapidly than he believed in 2000, this plan may look less attractive than it once did.
I have only speculation, but it’s plausible to me that developments in AI could be playing a role. The original decision in 2000 was to sunset “several decades after [Bill and Melinda Gates’] deaths.” Likely the idea was that handpicked successor leadership could carry out the founders’ vision and that the world would be similar enough to the world at the time of their death or disability for that plan to make sense for several decades after the founders’ deaths. To the extent that Gates thought that the world is going to change more rapidly than he believed in 2000, this plan may look less attractive than it once did.