Bill Gates Makes Grim Prediction About the Future of AI, Says the Tech Could ‘Cause a Billion Deaths’

Bill Gates has his reservations about artificial intelligence.

In a new conversation with NBC News’ Meet the Press, the 70-year-old Microsoft cofounder weighed in on the growing uncertainties surrounding AI, as the technology continues to be labeled more and more dangerous.

Pushing back against President Donald Trump‘s stance rejecting calls for the federal government to impose guardrails for companies building AI models, Gates told NBC News on Wednesday, September 23, that he believes action must be taken to prevent the potentially devastating events that could be coordinated by AI today.

“The most dangerous thing we’re facing right now is people with bad intent using AI. You know, so somebody who wants to defraud an individual or wants to shut down the electric network or scramble bank accounts, they are now empowered,” Gates explained.

“Historically, countries had cyberattack teams, and they could think of things like bioterror weapons,” the philanthropist continued. “Now, small groups with AI can do what only the biggest countries could do. So it’s really the bad intent plus AI that looms as a major threat. Unless governments insist on various safeguards, you know, we will see a lot of big, negative things because we’re not safeguarding.”

So much so, Gates said, that the death toll as a result of unchecked AI could be catastrophic.

“AI is certainly powerful enough to drive events that cause a billion deaths. So even though it’s pretty hard to get to 100 percent, there’s never been a weapon as powerful as the combination of people with ill intent using the latest AI tools,” Gates added.

As for the safeguards he’s talking about, Gates said it starts with “watching what the AI is doing,” noting that an effective monitoring system is something that should be introduced in each AI lab.

“Law enforcement is going to get called up on all these fraud events or, you know, transmission shutdown events,” he told moderator Kristen Welker. “And their ability to see what’s going on is going to be nil unless the monitoring and safeguards are built into the AI.”

Gates also noted that adding these safety features won’t slow down the technology either, a concern raised by some in tech working against the clock to come out on top in the nation-state race Trump, 80, ignited, telling his Truth Social followers in a September 14 post: “WHOEVER WINS AI, WINS!”

“That’s another debate — of should we slow down or not,” Gates continued. “But deciding to put the safeguards and monitoring in, that’s a choice we have. And the only question is, ‘Do we do that before or after there’s some large-scale cyberattacks or bioattacks?'”

Discussing the “kill switch” proposed in Congress that would require AI companies to immediately suspend or shut down their AI services if a dangerous situation occurs, Gate said it’s simply “not enough.”

“I would never want to say I’m against a kill switch,” he maintained, continuing to advocate for more monitoring and safeguards in AI. “But when you’re trying to moderate the bad behavior, you need insight and records of what’s being done. So the kill switch alone would not prevent these tragedies.”