Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates pushed back against one of the most prominent ideas in the debate over artificial intelligence safety on Sunday, arguing that discussions centered on a so-called AI "kill switch" miss the more immediate dangers posed by the technology. During an interview appearance on NBC News' Meet the Press, Gates said concerns that AI systems could become impossible to turn off are distracting from urgent threats such as cyberattacks, fraud and the development of biological weapons by bad actors. He argued that policymakers should focus on mandatory monitoring and safeguards rather than relying on a simple shutdown mechanism.
"The kill switch...that's kind of a weird thing. It's not enough to have a kill switch," Gates told moderator Kristen Welker. "We're not yet at the point where they autonomously grab computers and can't be shut down.
So that discussion just sort of shows how nontechnical various people are." Gates has emerged as one of the most prominent voices warning that AI could create risks on a scale comparable to, or even exceeding, previous technological revolutions. His remarks also arrive amid a growing policy debate in Washington over how aggressively governments should regulate advanced AI models. The issue has gained urgency in recent weeks following warnings from AI industry leaders, including Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei, who called for a slowdown across the industry.
He warned in an essay titled “We Must Pace the Frontier” that advanced systems could pose significant security and societal risks if guardrails are not established quickly. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman publicly agreed with the assessment, while Tesla CEO Elon Musk wrote on X that "Dario is right." Newsweek reached out to Anthropic and OpenAI by email Sunday for comment. While Gates stopped short of endorsing a pause in AI development, he argued lawmakers need to move faster on safeguards.
He said AI is already capable of enabling actors to conduct sophisticated cyberattacks and could potentially be used to assist with bioterrorism. "AI is certainly powerful enough to drive events that cause a billion deaths," Gates cautioned. "There's never been a weapon as powerful as the combination of people with ill intent using the latest AI tools." The billionaire philanthropist also dismissed suggestions that concerns about AI are overblown, responding to recent claims that fears of AI-driven catastrophe are a "hoax." "No.
It's not a hoax at all," Gates said. A central focus of the interview was the growing argument over whether AI systems need emergency shutdown mechanisms, commonly referred to as kill switches. Gates said the concept has become a distraction from what he views as the real challenge: ensuring governments and companies can monitor how advanced systems are being used.
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