Bill Gates Warns AI Could Cause 'a Billion Deaths' Without Government Safeguards

Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates has sounded the starkest warning yet about artificial intelligence's existential risks, telling NBC's Meet the Press that the technology is "powerful enough" to trigger catastrophic loss of life. In an interview set to air Sunday, Gates stated: "AI is certainly powerful enough to drive events that, you know, cause a billion deaths." He added that "there's never been a weapon as powerful as the combination of people with ill intent using the latest AI tools."