Bill Gates Warns AI Could Cause a Billion Deaths, Calls for Mandatory Regulation

Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates has issued a stark warning that artificial intelligence has become powerful enough to enable catastrophic events resulting in the deaths of up to a billion people.

In an interview with NBC News’ “Meet the Press,” Gates said the combination of advanced AI tools and individuals with malicious intent creates a threat unlike anything previously seen.

“AI is certainly powerful enough to drive events that cause a billion deaths,” Gates said. “There’s never been a weapon as powerful as the combination of people with ill intent using the latest AI tools”.

The billionaire philanthropist did not claim AI would necessarily cause human extinction, but emphasized that the technology could enable consequences of that scale. He called for United States lawmakers to pass legislation establishing safeguards around AI development.

“No one thinks self-regulation is enough,” Gates said when asked whether AI companies could police themselves. “You need law enforcement and the politicians to get into the discussion about what safeguards and monitoring look like. And that has to be a required thing”.

Gates acknowledged that regulation would impose some requirements on the industry but said it would not significantly slow development. “It will be a little bit of overhead for the industry, but not a dramatic slowing of what they’re doing,” he said.

The warning comes amid heightened debate over AI safety. Earlier this month, an Anthropic employee resigned and accused his former employer, along with OpenAI, of “gambling with our lives” by racing toward superintelligent AI. Another Anthropic employee stated that the probability of AI causing human extinction within the next decade exceeds 10 percent.

Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei has called for slowing the pace of AI development, a proposal that won support from OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and Tesla CEO Elon Musk.

Gates has previously warned that no government in the world is adequately prepared for the changes AI will bring to society. In an August essay, he described AI as either the greatest equalizer ever invented or the worst source of injustice, warning that as models become more powerful, they could begin to act against human interests.

His foundation has committed at least one billion dollars over the next two years to support AI applications in health care, education, and agriculture, aiming to ensure the technology benefits poorer communities as well.