Bill Gates on the Dangers of AI

Subscribe here: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | YouTube | Overcast | Pocket Casts Bill Gates has generally been an AI optimist.

In 2023, the co-founder of Microsoft warned about the potential downsides of AI but in much the same way that a doctor might about a routine-surgery risk—real and serious but, as he put it then, “manageable.” This week, Gates wrote a new memo , headlined: “The Turbulent AI Era Is Here.

The Choices We Make Now Are Critical.” This was several shades darker, worrying about economic upheaval, social unrest, cyberattacks, bioterrorism—and most important, the failure of experts and governments to take these threats seriously enough.

“The lack of dialogue with all parts of society is kind of deafening silence,” he said in an interview on Radio Atlantic .

Gates is still excited about the possibilities of AI.

But his new warning emphasizes that what’s coming is like nothing he’s seen in his many decades of watching technological innovation.

“Anyone who analogizes AI as a technology to other technologies is missing that this time is different.

And saying something is different, there’s a very high bar for that, but I’m staking whatever reputation I have [on] saying this time is different.” Gates joined Radio Atlantic for a conversation about his evolving views on AI, what he misjudged in his interactions with Jeffrey Epstein, and why he’s decided to raise the alarm now.

The following is a transcript of the episode: Bill Gates: You cannot expect an industry to regulate itself.

That doesn’t work.

Hanna Rosin: I’m Hanna Rosin.

This is Radio Atlantic . [ Music ] Rosin: In his long career, Bill Gates has been largely a booster of technology—including AI.

Very recently, he seemed concerned with the risks but more an optimist on balance.

But now he’s written a memo arguing that the combination of the rapid speed of advancement and the lack of regulation is putting us in a dangerous place—for employment and human relationships, and also more immediate dangers, like bioweapons and cyberattacks, which Gates is alarmed that no official entity seems to be guarding against.