Bill Gates had a front-row seat for the rise of AI, from his longtime work at Microsoft to early demonstrations of key breakthroughs from OpenAI that illustrated the technology’s potential. Now he’s urging the rest of us to get ready.

Likening the situation to his pre-COVID warnings about pandemic preparedness, Gates writes in his annual “Year Ahead” letter Friday morning that the world needs to act before AI’s disruptions become unmanageable. But he says that AI’s potential to transform healthcare, climate adaptation, and education remains enormous, if we can navigate the risks.

“There is no upper limit on how intelligent AIs will get or on how good robots will get, and I believe the advances will not plateau before exceeding human levels,” Gates writes.

He acknowledges that missed deadlines for artificial general intelligence, or human-level AI, can “create the impression that these things will never happen.” But he warns against reaching that conclusion, arguing that bigger breakthroughs are coming, even if the timing remains uncertain.

He says he’s still optimistic overall. “As hard as last year was, I don’t believe we will slide back into the Dark Ages,” he writes. “I believe that, within the next decade, we will not only get the world back on track but enter a new era of unprecedented progress.”

But he adds that we’ll need to be “deliberate about how this technology is developed, governed, and deployed” — and that governments, not just markets, will have to lead AI implementation.

More takeaways from the letter:

Job disruption is already here. He says AI makes software developers “at least twice as efficient,” and that disruption is spreading. Warehouse work and phone support are next. He suggests the world use 2026 to prepare, citing the potential for changes like a shorter work week.

Bioterrorism is his top AI concern. Gates warns that “an even greater risk than a naturally caused pandemic is that a non-government group will use open source AI tools to design a bioterrorism weapon.”

Climate will cause “enormous suffering” without action. Gates cautions that if we don’t limit climate change, it will join poverty and infectious disease in hitting the world’s poorest people hardest, and even in the best case, temperatures will keep rising.

Child mortality went backward in 2025. Stepping outside AI, Gates calls this the thing he’s “most upset about.” Deaths for children under 5 years old rose from 4.6 million in 2024 to 4.8 million in 2025, the first increase this century, which he traced to cuts in aid from rich countries.

AI could leapfrog rich-world farming. Gates predicts AI will soon give poor farmers “better advice about weather, prices, crop diseases, and soil than even the richest farmers get today.” The Gates Foundation has committed $1.4 billion to help farmers facing extreme weather.

Gates is using AI for his own health. He says he uses AI “to better understand my own health,” and sees a future where high-quality medical advice is available to every patient and provider around the clock.

AI is now the Gates Foundation’s biggest bet in education. Personalized learning powered by AI is “now the biggest focus of the Gates Foundation’s spending on education.” Gates says he’s seen it working firsthand in New Jersey and believes it will be “game changing” at scale.

Read the full letter here.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Building e-signature workflows, tax portals, HR onboarding systems, or surveys often depends on PDF form fields. Text inputs, dropdowns, checkboxes, and signature fields make PDFs editable, allowing users to complete documents directly in the browser. When you create fillable PDF forms from templates or generate them dynamically, a JavaScript PDF viewer ensure a smooth user experience.

However, this is where challenges arise. Developers frequently report issues with JavaScript PDF form fields, such as fields not rendering, layout shifts, incorrect checkbox states, or data disappearing after saving. These problems make it hard to validate and export accurate results.

This guide explains why these issues occur and how to fix them. You’ll learn how to read and fill PDF form fields accurately, and export clean results using the Syncfusion JavaScript PDF Viewer.

Why do JavaScript PDF Form Fields fail?

Based on developer feedback from forums and GitHub, here are the most common pain points:

1. Missing interactive fields
   Many PDF viewers default to a flattened mode, turning form fields into static content or hiding them completely.

   PDF Form Field Contents not displayed — User on StackOverflow, Issue
   Filled in Form Fields not displaying — User on GitHub, Issue #6457

2. Hidden configuration requirements
   Enabling interactive forms often requires specific settings that developers overlook, leading to confusion about missing features.

   Read only form field not rendered when AnnotationMode = 1 (ENABLED)
   — User on GitHub, Issue  #17064

3. Incorrect appearance and data loss: Checkboxes, radio buttons, and custom symbols often render incorrectly. Even worse, field states like a checked box may vanish after saving.

   Some PDF Textfield content not visible until clicked
   — User on StackOverflow, Issue
   [Bug]: Broken PDF fields on form
   — User on GitHub, Issue  #19274

4. Visual glitches and performance issues: In modern frameworks like React, complex form rendering can cause flickering, slow performance, or broken layouts.
5. Inconsistent browser behavior: Built-in PDF viewers in browsers like Chrome or Firefox offer limited and unpredictable support for interactive forms.

   pdf.js viewer does not support the JavaScript under button on PDF. JavaScript functions does not work properly
   — User on GitHub, Issue #14708

6. Data not recognized: Users fill out forms, but the underlying library fails to save or export the data. The result? A blank PDF after download or print.

   Form fields rendering as transparent with jsPDF
   — User on StackOverflow,  Issue

7. Limited AcroForms and XFA support: Most lightweight viewers support AcroForms partially and ignore XFA entirely, leaving developers puzzled when some forms work, and others don’t.

   [AskJS] Is it possible to fill a pdf form using JavaScript?
   — User on Reddit, Issue

These failures frustrate users and defeat the purpose of a web-based PDF viewer, forcing them back to desktop apps.

Why PDF Form Field issues persist in JavaScript Web Viewer

These problems aren’t due to a lack of effort; they stem from technical complexity hidden in the PDF specification and browser architecture. Most open-source and browser-native viewers were never designed to handle this level of interactivity.

Here’s why these issues persist:

1. Interactive form rendering isn’t a priority

Most open-source viewers focus on static document appearance, treating interactive forms as optional. As a result, developers face under-recognized issues because interactivity takes a back seat.

2. PDF form specification is complex

The PDF standard supports advanced features like custom appearances, validation logic, and calculation scripts (AcroForms/XFA). Lightweight libraries avoid this complexity, which leads to failures with common business documents that require robust handling.

3. Canvas rendering vs. interactive DOM

Most viewers render PDFs on a <canvas> element, a flat image with no concept of interactive elements. They build fragile interaction layers to simulate clicks and inputs, which can cause glitches, flickering, and data entry failures.

5. Dependency on browser-native viewers

Built-in PDF engines in browsers like Chrome and Firefox handle interactive forms inconsistently. These viewers aren’t designed as reliable, embeddable components, leaving developers with no way to debug or fix rendering issues.

A robust solution to Fillable PDF Forms in JavaScript

If you’ve struggled with missing fields, broken layouts, or data loss in PDF forms, you’re not alone. Most lightweight viewers fall short when handling interactive forms. The good news? A well-designed Syncfusion JavaScript PDF Viewer can solve these challenges and give developers complete control over form rendering and data handling.

Note: For a comprehensive walkthrough, refer to the user guides to learn how to create and design your form.

Here’s what a robust solution should offer:

1. Complete acro forms support

Syncfusion PDF Viewer provides comprehensive support for Acro Forms, ensuring seamless compatibility with standard PDF form structures.

2. Wide range of form fields

Syncfusion JS PDF Viewer offers support for Textbox, Password, CheckBox, RadioButton, ListBox, DropDown, SignatureField and InitialField, everything you need for dynamic forms.

3. XFA and flexible data formats

Supports exporting and importing form field data in multiple formats, including JSON, JavaScript objects, FDF, and XFDF. This ensures flexibility when working with different data sources.

Note: Want the full walkthrough? Explore the import/export form fields guide.

4. Rich API for form events

PDF Viewer offers a comprehensive set of events to handle operations like adding, editing, moving, resizing, and customizing fields programmatically. This gives developers precise control over form behavior.

5. Built-in toolbar support for form design

The PDF viewer includes a toolbar with options to add new form fields, edit existing fields, remove fields, perform clipboard operations, and manage field layout.

6. Programmatic form field creation:

A rich API set is available for creating, updating, and customizing form fields programmatically, offering complete control to developers. Explore its detailed API section to know more about programmatic form field creation.

7. Field visibility and read-only options

Hide fields or make them read-only to control user interaction and maintain data integrity.

8. Form field validation

Built-in form-fields validation options help ensure accurate data entry and enforce input rules.

9. Dynamic field addition

Fields can be added on-the-fly during runtime, enabling highly interactive and responsive PDF forms to ensure performance.

10. Flexible appearance customization

Style fields with custom colors, borders, fonts, and sizes to match your application’s design.

11. Modular feature loading

Load only what you need to improve performance and reduce bundle size for large documents.

Creating and managing fillable PDF Forms with Syncfusion

Syncfusion’s JavaScript PDF Viewer offers a built-in toolbar. Developers can also dynamically add, fill, update, or remove form fields using intuitive APIs such as addFormField, updateFormField, and deleteFormField.

Add new form fields

Use the Form Design toolbar to insert fields like TextBox, CheckBox, and more with just a click, as shown below.

Prefer code? The addFormField API enables you to create fields programmatically by specifying the field type and its properties. Here’s an example of adding a TextBox field.

//Initialize PDF viewer with PDF document path and required syncfusion resources
var pdfviewer = new ej.pdfviewer.PdfViewer({
    documentPath: 'https://cdn.syncfusion.com/content/pdf/form-designer.pdf',
    resourceUrl:'https://cdn.syncfusion.com/ej2/31.1.17/dist/ej2-pdfviewer-lib'
});
//Adding textbox form field
pdfviewer.documentLoad = function (args) {
pdfviewer.formDesignerModule.addFormField("Textbox", { name: "Name", value : none
bounds: { X: 146, Y: 229, Width: 150, Height: 24 } });
} 

Note: Ready to create your own forms? Step into our user documentation for step-by-step guidance on creating form fields programmatically! Explore our live demo and experience how easy it is to add fields using the built-in toolbar.

Customize existing form fields

Double-clicking any form field to open its properties panel or use the context menu for quick edits.

Programmatically, the updateFormField API lets you change appearance and behavior. Use the formFieldCollections property to get the field object or its ID. For example:

// Customize properties of the first TextBox form field
pdfviewer.formDesignerModule.updateFormField(pdfviewer.formFieldCollections[0], {
    fontSize: 12,              // Set font size
    backgroundColor: 'white',  // Set background color
    isMultiline: true          // Enable multiline behavior
    // You can customize additional properties as needed
}); 

Note: You can check our live demo and user guide to see how easily you can adjust fields using the built-in toolbar.

Delete form fields

Remove fields instantly using the delete icon on the toolbar or the context menu.

To delete via code, use the deleteFormField method, as shown below.

//Deleting first TextBox form field
pdfviewer.formDesignerModule.deleteFormField(pdfviewer.formFieldCollections[0]); 

Note: For a detailed walkthrough on creating and modifying other form fields, refer to the user guide and live demo section.

FAQs

1. Does the Syncfusion JavaScript PDF Viewer fully support interactive PDF form fields?

Yes. Syncfusion provides complete support for AcroForms, including textboxes, dropdowns, checkboxes, radio buttons, signatures, list boxes, and more. It accurately renders, fills, edits, and exports form data without losing field states.

2. Can Syncfusion handle advanced PDF form types like XFA forms?

While most JavaScript PDF viewers ignore XFA entirely, Syncfusion supports working with form data formats such as JSON, FDF, and XFDF, giving developers extensive flexibility in importing and exporting form field values.

3. Does the Syncfusion PDF Viewer has support to create form fields programmatically?

Yes. Developers can dynamically create fields using APIs such as addFormField, updateFormField, and deleteFormField. This includes full control over size, style, position, and behavior.

4. Is there a UI-based form designer available in Syncfusion’s JS PDF Viewer?

Absolutely. Syncfusion includes a built‑in Form Designer toolbar that allows users to insert, edit, resize, delete, and customize form fields directly in the viewer without writing and struggling with code.

5. What form field events does Syncfusion support?

Syncfusion provides a rich event system for form operations such as adding, moving, resizing, selecting, validating, and customizing fields, giving developers full control over interactivity.

6. How does Syncfusion handle saving or exporting filled PDF forms?

It supports exporting to multiple formats including JSON, FDF, XFDF, ensuring no data loss. This solves the common problem where other viewers produce blank or partially filled PDFs after saving.

7. Can Syncfusion prevent accidental editing by making fields read‑only or hidden?

Yes. Syncfusion allows fields to be marked as read‑only or hidden, enabling secure, controlled user interactions.

8. Can I integrate Syncfusion PDF Viewer into workflows like onboarding, tax forms, or e‑signatures?

Yes. Syncfusion’s robust field support, validation features, and import/export capabilities make it ideal for workflows requiring accurate form handling such as HR onboarding, legal forms, surveys, invoices, and application forms.

Conclusion

Thank you for reading! Working with form fields in JavaScript PDF viewers often presents challenges, including limited customization options, a lack of dynamic behavior, inconsistent rendering, and complex validation logic.

Syncfusion JavaScript PDF Viewer addresses these challenges with:

• Dynamic field creation and editing
• Built-in validation
• Export/import in multiple formats (JSON, FDF, XFDF)
• Rich APIs for complete control

Whether you’re building e-signature workflows, tax portals, HR onboarding systems, or customer surveys, a feature-rich JavaScript PDF viewer makes interactive PDF forms simple and reliable.

If you’re a Syncfusion user, you can download the setup from the license and downloads page. Otherwise, you can download a free 30-day trial.

You can also contact us through our support forum, support portal, or feedback portal for queries. We are always happy to assist you!

Hey everyone! If you're starting Flutter in 2026, this is your perfect first step: we'll set up Flutter from scratch, fix common issues, and build a real counter app using the best practices of 2026, including Riverpod, the state management everyone's using now. No prior experience needed. 

By the end, you'll have a running app on your emulator or device. Let's go!

Quick: why Flutter in 2026? It's powering everything mobile (Android & iOS), web, and desktop, with sleek performance thanks to Impeller. AI integrations are coming fast, and the job market is expanding.

Now, set up. Head to flutter.dev and follow the installation process for your OS. Use the YouTube video above as a guide.

Once you're done with the installation. Switching to VS Code…
Create project:

flutter create my_first_app
cd my_first_app
code .

Open lib/main.dart - delete the default counter for a clean start.
First, add dependencies (pubspec.yaml):

dependencies:
  flutter:
    sdk: flutter
  flutter_riverpod: any # Latest Riverpod

Run flutter pub get.

Set up Riverpod provider scope in main.dart:

import 'package:flutter/material.dart';
import 'package:flutter_riverpod/flutter_riverpod.dart';

void main() {
  runApp(const ProviderScope(child: MyApp()));
}

class MyApp extends StatelessWidget {
  const MyApp({super.key});
  @override
  Widget build(BuildContext context) {
    return MaterialApp(
      title: 'My First Flutter App 2026',
      theme: ThemeData(primarySwatch: Colors.blue),
      home: const HomePage(),
    );
  }
}

Create a counter provider (new file: lib/providers/counter_provider.dart):

import 'package:flutter_riverpod/flutter_riverpod.dart';

final counterProvider = StateProvider<int>((ref) => 0);

Home page (lib/screens/home_page.dart or replace main):

import 'package:flutter/material.dart';
import 'package:flutter_riverpod/flutter_riverpod.dart';
import '../providers/counter_provider.dart';

class HomePage extends ConsumerWidget {
  const HomePage({super.key});
  @override
  Widget build(BuildContext context, WidgetRef ref) {
    final count = ref.watch(counterProvider);
    return Scaffold(
      appBar: AppBar(title: const Text('Flutter 2026 Counter')),
      body: Center(
        child: Text('Count: $count', style: const TextStyle(fontSize: 48)),
      ),
      floatingActionButton: Column(
        mainAxisAlignment: MainAxisAlignment.end,
        children: [
          FloatingActionButton(
            onPressed: () => ref.read(counterProvider.notifier).state++,
            child: const Icon(Icons.add),
          ),
          const SizedBox(height: 10),
          FloatingActionButton(
            onPressed: () => ref.read(counterProvider.notifier).state--,
            child: const Icon(Icons.remove),
          ),
        ],
      ),
    );
  }
}

Run it: flutter run and hot reload demo!

You just built a modern Flutter app with 2026 best practices! Riverpod makes scaling easy.