Tech billionaire Bill Gates warned that artificial intelligence had the potential to kill a billion people in the wrong hands — as he joined the call to put safety restrictions on the technology.
The Microsoft co-founder called for greater government oversight on AI during a talk with NBC’s “Meet the Press” on Sunday, where he suggested AI could be abused and lead to humanity’s near extinction.
“AI is certainly powerful enough to drive events that cause a billion deaths,” he warned.
“So even though it’s pretty hard to get to 100% [of humanity], there’s never been a weapon as powerful as the combination of people with ill intent using the latest AI tools,” he added.
Gates explained that without the proper guardrails in place, it would be simple for potential terrorists or anyone with ill intent to use the tech to develop weapons or biological horrors.
“I wish it was easier to distinguish good intent, like I want to design a new drug for a disease, versus negative intent, which is I want to design a tool of bioterrorism,” he added.
Tech leaders have sounded the alarm over the potential dangers of AI earlier this month after Anthropic released a report on the issue, including notes that the Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen tried to use the tech to build guided ballistic missiles.
Both Dario Amodei, CEO of Anthropic, and Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, have agreed that the pace of AI development should be slowed.
Despite the concerns raised by tech leaders, President Trump has resisted calls on regulating AI, warning that such limitations could result in losing out to China in the developing field.
Gates, however, insisted that proper government regulation would not hamper America’s standing in the AI race.
“You’ll hear from the industry, ‘It’s a very doable thing.’ It would not slow them down dramatically,” Gates insisted.
