Bill Gates talks about the dangers of artificial intelligence

2026-08-26

Bill Gates, former Microsoft CEO and philanthropist, discusses the pace of AI development and the risks it poses. In an interview with MIT Technology Review, he discusses the limits the tech industry has already crossed and highlights the specific regulations that are needed to manage this process.

Gates believes that the tech industry has reached a point where AI can cause real harm, but the appropriate safeguards are not yet in place. “We’ve already crossed the threshold in terms of bio-capabilities, cyber-capabilities, psychosocial capabilities, labor market disruption, and even lack of control… I’m just amazed at the lack of interest and discussion outside the industry.”

His criticisms are mainly directed at bioterrorism, cyberattacks, and changes in the labor market. Gates believes that the ability to generate new molecules increases the risk of bioterrorism by 50 times compared to a natural pandemic, which is why such models should be strictly controlled. Technology also allows even non-technical people to carry out complex cyberattacks. Regarding the labor market, Gates notes that due to the low cost and high accuracy of AI, a large part of office jobs are at high risk of replacement.

To manage the existing risks, Bill Gates offers several approaches:

First of all, he is considering a special tax on robots and tokens, which will be imposed on companies that replace human labor with artificial intelligence. The collected money should be used for social assistance programs for people who remain unemployed.

The second initiative involves the so-called "reserved for people" professions. In his opinion, certain activities, such as caring for children, patient interaction in healthcare, or pedagogy, should only be performed by humans. In addition, Gates considers global cooperation to be essential for the prevention of threats, since he considers self-regulation of the industry to be insufficient. In his opinion, the US and China should jointly establish regulations, for example, in the direction of biomonitoring.

Although Gates also sees the positive sides of AI and believes that the technology will improve healthcare and agriculture, he notes that the next 10-20 years will be a rather difficult transition period. “Yes, I am an imperfect messenger… It is rare for a person enriched by technology to attack innovations like this. But if the right policies and protective mechanisms are not introduced, this will be a net negative for humanity.”

Source: marketer.ge