Bill Gates warns AI could help cause ‘a billion deaths'

Bill Gates has warned that artificial intelligence could become powerful enough to help cause the deaths of a billion people, as he called for governments to stop relying on AI companies to police themselves.

The Microsoft co-founder made the warning during an interview with NBC News' “Meet the Press,” which will air in full on Sunday.

Gates wasn't predicting that AI itself would suddenly turn on humanity.

His concern is what people with bad intentions could do with increasingly capable AI systems.

“AI is certainly powerful enough to drive events that, you know, cause a billion deaths,” Gates said.

He argued that combining advanced AI with people seeking to cause harm could create something more dangerous than any previous weapon.

For Gates, leaving companies to decide their own safety rules isn't enough.

Asked whether Washington needs to pass legislation, he said “absolutely,” arguing that politicians and law enforcement should be involved in deciding what safeguards and monitoring AI developers are required to have.

The warning comes as the debate inside the AI industry itself becomes harder to ignore.

Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei has called for slowing the development of the most advanced AI systems, while researchers and former employees across the industry have raised concerns about what could happen as models become more autonomous.

Gates has also changed his own tone.

A longtime technology optimist, he wrote last month that AI could become an enormous force for improving people's lives, but warned that it could also be used for cyberattacks, fraud and even helping bad actors develop dangerous pathogens.