Bill Gates warns AI powerful enough to cause 'a billion deaths'

Bill Gates has warned that artificial intelligence is “powerful enough” to help kill off a substantial portion of humanity, in excerpts from an NBC Meet the Press interview released on Friday ahead of the full broadcast this weekend (https://www.moneycontrol.com/news/business/bill-gates-chilling-ai-warning-powerful-enough-to-cause-1-billion-deaths-14038529.html).

“AI is certainly powerful enough to drive events that, you know, cause a billion deaths,” the Microsoft co-founder said. “There’s never been a weapon as powerful as the combination of people with ill intent using the latest AI tools” (https://www.ndtvprofit.com/technology/bill-gates-warns-ai-powerful-enough-to-lead-to-a-billion-deaths-12098984).

Gates said voluntary safeguards by technology companies were not enough. “You need law enforcement and the politicians to get into the discussion about what safeguards and monitoring look like. And that has to be a required thing,” he said, arguing that governments must set mandatory oversight as AI capabilities develop (https://www.forbes.com/sites/alisondurkee/2026/09/25/bill-gates-warns-ai-is-powerful-enough-to-cause-a-billion-deaths/).

The remarks add to escalating warnings from across the industry. Jacob Coxon, a rank-and-file Anthropic staffer, quit earlier this month accusing Anthropic and OpenAI of “gambling with our lives” in the race towards super-intelligent AI, while another Anthropic employee said there was a greater than 10 per cent chance AI eliminates all humans within the next decade (https://www.moneycontrol.com/news/business/bill-gates-chilling-ai-warning-powerful-enough-to-cause-1-billion-deaths-14038529.html).

Anthropic chief executive Dario Amodei has since urged a slowdown in AI development, a proposal backed by OpenAI boss Sam Altman and Elon Musk (https://www.ndtvprofit.com/technology/bill-gates-warns-ai-powerful-enough-to-lead-to-a-billion-deaths-12098984).