Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates says the rapid advancement of artificial intelligence—and what he sees as a lack of meaningful safeguards—has pushed him to publicly raise the alarm over the technology. “The silence is what really drove me to speak out at this point,” Gates told CNN’s Anderson Cooper on Wednesday in part, arguing that the public needs to have a greater voice in decisions about AI’s future. He said the technology presents both significant benefits and risks that need to be addressed more openly.
He pointed to risks including cyberattacks, bioterrorism and broader psychological and social consequences, saying he was “shocked” that stronger safeguards are not already in place. Gates also argued that simply restricting data centers would not meaningfully slow AI’s development because companies could build them elsewhere.
“… We have to get everybody’s voice in this. You know, these are a set of Democratic tradeoffs that have to be made, and you know people think that ‘OK, I’ll block a data center,’ that really isn’t going to slow things down. Those data centers will show up somewhere. We have to take the AI issue, and it’s the bads versus the goods on in a very explicit way,” Gates also told Cooper.
Newsweek reached out to the White House via email on Wednesday night for comment about Gates’ concerns on AI.
What To Know
His comments to Cooper come after Gates published a nearly 6,000-word essay warning that the world is entering a “turbulent” period of AI. He argued that leaders have not adequately prepared for the disruption ahead, particularly as AI begins to take on work in fields including law, customer service, medicine, software and manufacturing.
Gates has stopped short of calling for an outright halt to AI development, but he said he would support a credible global agreement to slow its advancement if one were possible. He acknowledged in his essay, however, that economic and geopolitical competition between countries and technology companies makes such an agreement unlikely. He has also proposed measures including taxing AI or robots in a way similar to payroll taxes and reserving certain types of work for humans.
The remarks mark a notable shift in emphasis for Gates, who has also highlighted AI’s potential to improve healthcare, scientific research and productivity. But as the technology develops, Gates is increasingly warning that its benefits will come with serious costs if governments fail to establish guardrails. “My message to leaders,” Gates wrote, is that they have an opportunity to act before rising unemployment, social disruption and declining public trust make the consequences harder to address.
Gates Outlines Three Risks of AI
Gates outlined three major risks from AI, beginning with job displacement. He warned that AI could eliminate jobs across both white- and blue-collar industries, particularly affecting entry- and mid-level workers and young people entering the workforce. As AI and robotics become more capable, he said fewer good jobs could be available.
“I’m staking my reputation completely on the fact that in terms of the impact on the job market, this is very different than any technology that I’ve been involved in or that has come across in human history,” Gates said to Cooper Wednesday night.
Gates also warned that AI could empower people to cause greater harm, making cyberattacks, fraud, disinformation, deepfakes and bioterrorism easier to carry out. Finally, he raised concerns that AI could stunt children’s development and replace human relationships, particularly through AI companions, in his essay and to Cooper.
Congressman Greg Casar of Texas, a Democrat, reacted to Gates’ remarks saying on X on Wednesday, “Even tech billionaires like Bill Gates are saying we need an AI token tax to prevent mass unemployment. I introduced the first and only bill in Congress to do it.”
What Gates Suggests Doing About AI
Gates argues that governments need to act now to manage AI’s rapid development, including creating new institutions to oversee its risks. He has also called for greater scrutiny of powerful AI systems, particularly when they could pose risks to national security, cybersecurity or public safety.
To address AI-driven job losses, Gates has proposed taxing AI tokens and robots, with the revenue potentially supporting worker retraining and “a stronger safety net.” He has also suggested designating certain roles as reserved for human workers, particularly jobs where human judgment, care or interaction remains especially important.
Oren Etzioni, a computer science professor at the University of Washington and founding CEO of the Allen Institute for Artificial Intelligence, said he agrees with much of Gates’ assessment of AI’s risks but disagrees with some of his proposed solutions. “I think he has the diagnosis right, but the prescription wrong, at least in some places,” Etzioni told ABC News.
Etzioni supported taxing robots that replace workers but questioned Gates’ proposal to tax AI tokens, arguing it measures usage rather than job displacement. He also warned that slowing U.S. AI development through taxes could put the country at a disadvantage to competitors. Rather than creating new government agencies, Etzioni said existing agencies should establish appropriate policies, adding that it is “not too late” to address AI’s risks if policymakers act with urgency.
Gates Calls AI ‘a Thousand Times Bigger’ Than Nuclear
“I still think it’s within our grasp to shape this in a net positive way,” Gates told Cooper Wednesday night. “It’s like when nuclear came along, is it nuclear weapons or is it nuclear energy, this is a thousand times bigger and has both the negative aspect and the positive coexisting in the same technology.”
Contact Newsweek editors on this story: Edward T. Cummins.
