Bill Gates' big AI warning: ‘Powerful enough to drive events leading to billion deaths’

Microsoft Corp. co-founder Bill Gates has backed warnings issued by artificial intelligence (AI) leaders in the recent days, claiming the tool was “powerful enough” to drive events which could kill “billions.”Bill Gates called for lawmakers to regulate the development of AI, stating that “no one thinks self-regulation is enough.” (AP Photo)“AI is certainly powerful enough to drive events that, you know, cause a billion deaths,” Gates told NBC’s Meet the Press. He further added, “There’s never been a weapon as powerful as the combination of people with ill intent using the latest AI tools.”Gates' remarks come after Anthropic co-founder Dario Amodei and OpenAI boss Sam Altman themselves flagged risks related to AI, including “loss of human control”. The statements received support from several entrepreneurs, including Elon Musk.Also Read | Will the AI frenzy add up to anything?However, US President Donald Trump rejected the concerns over rapid development of AI as “conspiracy” and pushed back against the risks, dubbing the tool as “super intelligence”.What did Bill Gates say?Gates called for lawmakers to regulate the development of AI, stating that “no one thinks self-regulation is enough.” When asked by NBC whether there should be legislation regarding this in the United States, he replied, saying, “Absolutely.”“You need law enforcement and the politicians to get into the discussion about what safeguards and monitoring look like,” Gates elaborated further, adding that this must be “a required thing.” “And it will be a little bit of overhead for the industry, but not a dramatic slowing of what they’re doing,” Gates said.Also Read | The keys to your accounts: How personal AI agents like Meta's Muse work, and what they ask of usersFar from downplaying the risks associated with AI, Gates called on Americans to not ignore these.How did the debate over AI risks begin?The debate over risks and challenges related to AI gripped Silicon Valley after Jacob Coxon, a rank-and-file staffer at Anthropic PBC, quit his job earlier this month and accused both his former employers — Anthropic and OpenAI — of “gambling with our lives” by “racing toward super-intelligent AI.”Not soon after, Anthropic's Amodei, in a blog post on his website,urged AI firms to “pace” the development of models. While highlighting the OpenAI Hugging Face incident, the Anthropic co-founder warned over the tool's “recursive self-improvement”. Amodei said building AI too slowly could stop people from getting its benefits or let it fall into the hands of authoritarian powers, but building it too fast is dangerous.Amodei also suggested a three-step solution – letting outside evaluators keep watching AI companies, setting common safety rules with limits on unchecked progress, and building cooperation between countries, even between democratic and authoritarian ones.His remarks received support from OpenAI's Sam Altman, who said he agreed on the need to “pace the frontier”. What did US President Trump say?Trump has continued to dismiss alarm over AI, but announced the creation of an "AI Force", which will be led by an “AI Czar”. "We will also be looking for BAD, and we can do that, very easily, with our already existing Criminal and Civil Justice System," Trump said about his plans to regulate AI.“For this purpose, I am forming the AI Force, much like I did Space Force, which has been a tremendous SUCCESS, in my First Term. To that end, I will be announcing, in the near future, the AI “Czar” — Only High I.Q. individuals need apply! AI is the next Industrial Revolution, or Internet, but will be even larger and more impactful, possibly as much as 25% of our Country’s GDP,” the US President stated.