The Microsoft co-founder said the more current danger is bad actors with access to AI tools.
After several CEOs of leading AI companies agreed to slow the pace of AI development, Bill Gates offered supportive sentiments and called for more regulation and safeguards. In an interview with NBC newsMeeting the press, the Microsoft co-founder said that “it is completely irresponsible not to require all AI to have these security measures and monitoring capabilities.” To that end, Anthropic recently tapped Accenture to act as a third-party evaluator for its latest AI models.
As for other approaches to dealing with AI’s rapid rate of evolution, California’s governor, Gavin Newsom, has proposed a “kill switch” as part of a larger solution. When asked about the kill switch approach to fighting AI, Gates said that “I would never say I’m against a kill switch,” but added that this approach does not address a more imminent danger. Instead, Gates said the more pressing concern is when bad actors use the power of AI to help with bioterrorism or massive financial fraud incidents.
“The most dangerous thing we face right now is people with bad intentions using AI,” Gates said during the interview. “There has never been a weapon as powerful as the combination of people with ill intent using the latest AI tools.”
When it comes to legislation, Gates has supported law enforcement and politicians entering the conversation about what safeguards and oversight should be built into AI companies. The former Microsoft exec said that approach would add some overhead to the industry, but it wouldn’t be a “dramatic extension of what they do.”