Bill Gates Warns of Rise in AI Cyberattacks

Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates has warned that unregulated artificial intelligence poses a growing threat and predicted a surge in AI-powered cyberattacks in the coming year.

Gates spoke during an interview with CNN’s Jake Tapper. He described AI as "the most dangerous technology humans ever invented" and said society needs to act before things get out of hand.

"The front that we’ll probably see most dramatically in the next year is cyberattacks," Gates said.

He said the immediate risk is not AI systems spiralling out of control on their own.

"The real danger right now is not the AI’s getting out of control. We need to work on that, but that’s years away in terms of the big impact that might have," he said.

According to him, the more urgent danger is the misuse of the technology by criminals.

"It’s really bad people using AI, particularly in AI where you can take out all the safeguards," he said. He added that increased restrictions were needed to prevent bad actors from using AI for bioterrorism and cyberattacks.

Gates predicts rise in AI cyberattacks

Gates warned that the ability to remove safety guardrails from advanced models is creating new risks.

"But right now, you’re allowed to take all those safeguards out. So when you have bad people, no safeguards, and then the latest models, that’s where, over the next year, primarily in the cyber area, we are going to have a lot of negative surprises," he told CNN.

He had earlier warned in a lengthy August post that the world was dangerously unprepared for the upheaval brought by AI, especially to employment. He is the latest tech leader to raise the alarm over the threats posed by the technology.

In the interview on Sunday, Gates also dismissed the idea advocated by US President Donald Trump that self-regulation by AI companies is sufficient to keep the world safe.

"The idea that for the most dangerous technology humans ever invented, that’s the final word, that just the companies themselves are the only check that society has it’s clear we’re not doing enough," he added.