Microsoft's Gates said AI could help bad actors kill a billion people.
Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates told NBC's Meet the Press on Sunday: "AI is certainly powerful enough to drive events that, you know, cause a billion deaths."
The danger he described is people with bad intent using the newest AI tools. He said AI crossed dangerous thresholds this year, including the ability to help with biological and cyber attacks.
Asked whether companies can police themselves, he said: "No one thinks self-regulation is enough." Asked whether Washington should legislate, he said yes.
He wants safeguards and monitoring to be required for every AI. The cost, he said, would add a little overhead for the industry without dramatically slowing it down.
Asked about a U.S.-China deal on AI, he said it would be more difficult than the Cold War talks on nuclear weapons.
The same week, the heads of the top U.S. AI companies warned the United Nations about the risks of their own technology, NBC reported.
If AI monitoring became a legal requirement, could your company show what its AI did last month?
Sources
Our file on Microsoft
- 8 Oct
Microsoft 365 reached 5,000 Dutch tax staff. Then the government stopped the move.
- 7 Oct
Games Workshop hoped for new finance software in 2020. Its old systems still run.
- 6 Oct
Microsoft planned $1 billion for employees using Claude. Then it cut over a third.
- 4 Oct
Microsoft started blocking a mailbox link apps used since 2007. No exceptions from April.
- 29 Sept
NVIDIA launched a safety net for AI agents. Microsoft and JPMorgan already use it.
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