Bill Gates issues chilling warning that AI could ‘cause a billion deaths’
Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates has issued a chilling new warning about AI, claiming it could ‘cause a billion deaths’.
Billionaire Gates, 70, has worked in tech for decades so it’s safe to say he knows a thing or two when it comes to the likes of artificial intelligence.
He’s previously warned that there are only three jobs that will survive the boom in AI technology and has even predicted a somewhat terrifying potential ‘doomsday scenario’.
Now in a new interview with Meet the Press, Gates has taken his concerns a step further and said AI could result in a ‘billion deaths’ if the smart tech was to fall into the wrong hands.
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He explained: “AI is certainly powerful enough to drive events that cause a billion deaths.
“So even though it's pretty hard to get to 100 per cent [of humanity], there's never been a weapon as powerful as the combination of people with ill intent using the latest AI tools.”
He also warned that AI could make it more difficult, and dangerous, for people to distinguish between well-meaning scientists working on life-saving drugs and bad actors creating biological weapons.
He said: “I wish it was 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.”
Like many others who work in the tech industry, Gates has also called for safeguarding measures to be implemented when it comes to AI.
“You'll hear from the industry, it's a very doable thing. It would not slow them down dramatically,” he said.
Bill Gates is not the only expect to issue an AI warning
Gates' warnings come after the CEO of AI company Anthropic called for artificial intelligence developers and investors to slow things down.
In a blog post, Dario Amodei insisted that artificial intelligence could 'dramatically raise the quality of human life' and do all sorts of things like cure diseases, boost the economy and make everything better.
However, he also warned that there were risks to it as well, and that the methods used to mitigate the risks were not keeping up with the pace of development.
Meanwhile, a former Anthropic researcher recently announced he had quit his job and accused the company of ‘gambling with our lives’.
Jacob Coxon shared a slew of tweets earlier this month, in which he claimed AI 'could kill us all by the end of the decade'.
He wrote: "Do not underestimate the power of this technology. These will soon be superhuman systems that can hack anything, revolutionize any field overnight, and acquire real power and resources. We have all witnessed the progress in each of these domains, and progress is not slowing."
He went on to share a bleak forecast for the next ten years, as Coxon continued: "The people building AI earnestly believe that it could kill us all by the end of the decade. This is not a marketing stunt. If anything, many executives and senior researchers will couch their phrasing in the press to sound sensible - but I hear the same people express fear privately. No other human activity poses this level of danger.”
Topics: Bill Gates, AI, Technology, Artificial Intelligence
Claire Reid