WASHINGTON, USA – Microsoft co-founder and philanthropist Bill Gates has warned that artificial intelligence could usher in one of the most turbulent periods in human history, calling for urgent international cooperation to manage the technology’s rapidly expanding power. In a nearly 6,000-word essay published on his blog on August 26, Gates said cooperation between the United States and China would be essential to managing the unprecedented social impact of AI. He described AI as a potential turning point for humanity that could become either “the greatest equalizer” in history or a source of some of its worst injustices.
Gates argued that governments are underestimating the speed and scale of the transformation because they continue to compare AI with earlier technologies. Personal computers, for example, took decades to fundamentally change the way people worked. AI can be adopted much faster because it operates through devices and systems people already use and can interact with humans directly. “We don’t have to adapt to it because it can adapt to us,” Gates wrote.
He called on countries with leading AI developers and significant control over the technology supply chain to begin discussions now and establish common rules before growing competition makes international cooperation more difficult. Gates also proposed creating an international organization to help govern AI and shape its future.
He warned that governments must work together to monitor and control increasingly powerful AI capabilities, particularly to prevent the technology from being used to produce dangerous chemicals, facilitate biological crimes or cause other forms of serious harm. Gates identified three major risks from the transition into the AI era. The first is that large numbers of jobs could disappear permanently. The second is that AI could give malicious individuals — and potentially AI systems themselves — greater power to cause harm through cyberattacks, fraud, disinformation and even physical threats such as biological weapons.
The third is the potential impact on children and human relationships, with AI potentially interfering with child development or replacing important relationships between people. Gates told Reuters that he plans to meet Chinese President Xi Jinping later this year to discuss possible international cooperation to reduce the growing risks posed by AI.
He said China could potentially agree to restrict the release of dangerous AI models if the United States takes the first step toward such restrictions. A spokesperson for Gates said he may visit China in November. Gates last met Xi three years ago and was the first foreign entrepreneur invited to meet the Chinese president following the COVID-19 pandemic. His latest warning comes as governments around the world race to develop AI while struggling to establish rules that can keep pace with the technology’s rapid development.
