Bill Gates has warned that unregulated artificial intelligence (AI) poses a growing threat, predicting an escalation in AI-powered cyberattacks over the next year.
During an interview with CNN’s Jake Tapper, the Microsoft co-founder described AI as “the most dangerous technology humans ever invented” and said society needed to intervene before its risks became unmanageable.
“The front that we’ll probably see most dramatically in the next year is cyberattacks,” Gates said.
He said the immediate danger was not AI systems becoming uncontrollable, noting that the broader impact of such a development was still years away.
“It’s really bad people using AI, particularly in AI where you can take out all the safeguards,” he said, calling for tighter restrictions to prevent malicious actors from using the technology for bioterrorism and cyberattacks.
“But right now, you’re allowed to take all those safeguards out. So when you have bad people, no safeguards, and then the latest models, that’s where, over the next year, primarily in the cyber area, we are going to have a lot of negative surprises,” he told CNN.
Gates, who warned in an August post that the world was dangerously unprepared for the disruption AI could cause, particularly in employment, is the latest technology leader to raise concerns about the risks posed by the technology.
In the interview on Sunday, he rejected US President Donald Trump’s position that self-regulation by AI companies was sufficient to protect society.
“The idea that for the most dangerous technology humans ever invented, that that’s the final word, that just the companies themselves are the only check that society has…it’s clear we’re not doing enough,” Gates added.
