Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates has cautioned that artificial intelligence, if exploited by people with malicious intent, could result in the deaths of billions, describing the technology as an “intelligent species” already surpassing human capabilities in many areas.
In an interview with NBC, Gates said: “We have created an intelligent species that in many respects is already smarter than we are and that, over the next several years at kind of an exponential level, will be insanely smarter than we are.”
He stressed that the danger does not stem from AI systems acting independently but from humans deploying them for harmful purposes. “The AI is not running millions of robots, so if it turns out to be too dangerous, we still can solve it by turning off their main computers,” Gates explained. “The most dangerous thing about AI is people’s bad intentions using it for things like defrauding individuals, shutting down electrical systems, or scrambling bank accounts.”
Gates described the combination of ill intent and advanced AI tools as unprecedented. “There has never been a weapon as powerful as the combination of people with ill intentions using the latest AI tools,” he said.
He argued that built-in safeguards and monitoring mechanisms would prove more effective than a so-called “kill switch” or deliberately slowing AI development. “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 are some large-scale cyberattacks or bioattacks?” he asked.
Gates also highlighted the challenge of distinguishing beneficial uses, such as designing new medicines, from potential bioterrorism applications. “I wish it were easier to distinguish good intent, like I want to design a new drug for a disease, versus negative intent, which is I want to design a tool of bioterrorism,” he said, calling for monitoring of sophisticated models.
He maintained there is currently no risk of AI systems going completely out of control on their own, identifying the urgent threat as misuse by bad actors rather than autonomous AI behaviour.
