Bill Gates warns that AI can lead to “thousands of millions of deaths”

O co-founder and ex-CEO of Microsoft, Bill Gates, took advantage of an interview NBC to launch new warnings regarding the deregulated development of Artificial Intelligence and warned that such a path may lead to the creation of a new “thousands of millions of deaths”.

During the conversation, Bill Gates pointed out that it is not enough for technology companies – such as OpenAI or Anthropic – to try to regulate the development of their own models of Artificial Intelligence.

“ Nobody thinks self-regulation is sufficient”, said Gates, who thus called for greater involvement of governments and regulators.

“Authority forces and politicians need to be involved in the discussion of protections and monitoring”, pointed out Gates, also indicating that these points have to be “compulsory”.

Microsoft co-founder also noted that “There has never been a weapon as powerful as the combination of malicious people using the latest tools of artificial intelligence”, warning that – if they fall into the wrong hands – these same tools are “certainly powerful enough to lead to situations where they cause billions of deaths”.

Moreover, Gates explained that it is not enough to create a mechanism to “disconnect” Artificial Intelligence if technology becomes too powerful. In the opinion of the multimillionaire and philanthropist, this concept in the current debate only shows that those involved are being untechnical.

AI can lead to an “age of abundance”

Despite warnings and defense for greater regulation, Bill Gates also noted during this interview that Artificial Intelligence could bring benefits and lead humanity to an “age of abundance.” However, the company believes that the development of technology has two distinct phases.

Despite the potential to solve problems with housing and also with health care, Gates says that in this first phase of the development of Artificial Intelligence it is necessary to create regulations to minimize damage.

“ This will change the labour market and can strengthen criminals if we do not have the proper protections, so we will have an adaptation period that will probably take 20 years.”, explained Gates.

It is only after this period that, for Bill Gates, humanity will be ready to reap the benefits of the development of Artificial Intelligence.

“ As soon as you get through this, a combination of humanoid robots and artificial intelligence will provide. Building houses, cultivating food, many things”, pointed Gates. “ We could call it the age of abundance”.