Bill Gates warns AI tools could be used to create bioweapons

Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates said the world has been left exposed to the dangers of AI-enabled bioweapons due to the Trump administration's failure to act on the issue.

Gates has repeatedly warned about the risks AI could pose, to the point where some have labeled him an AI skeptic.

Speaking Wednesday (local time) at the Financial Times' Future of AI Summit in London, Gates said it cannot be overstated that highly capable AI models, while useful for good, carry the potential to be turned toward harmful ends, Yonhap reported.

"Malicious actors using AI tools could create bioweapons or exploit cybersecurity vulnerabilities across society," Gates warned, adding that an AI-related biosecurity incident could cause far greater damage than COVID-19.

The COVID-19 pandemic, which swept the globe in 2020 and 2021, is estimated to have killed about 15 million people.

Gates also said the Trump administration has obstructed international efforts to regulate and monitor AI, despite repeated warnings about its dangers.

"Self-regulation will not work once there are multiple (AI) companies," he said. "The only solution is government."

In contrast to his criticism of the Trump administration, Gates praised Anthropic — one of the leading AI companies — for disclosing the potential risks of AI in its initial public offering prospectus last week.

In that filing, Anthropic said highly advanced AI could produce catastrophic outcomes if misused or if it escapes human control.

Gates made similar remarks last month, saying AI would replace nearly every human role and that the next 20 years would be the most disruptive period in history.

In an interview with the Observer, the sister publication of The Guardian, published Oct. 25 (local time), Gates described AI as "an evolutionary event" — "a change in the stage of life on Earth, like the evolution from apes to humans," Yonhap reported at the time.

"The smartest entity is being redefined," Gates said, adding that humans are no longer the most intelligent beings on the planet and that AI is taking that place.

Gates said mathematicians would enjoy a golden age for the next five years or so thanks to AI, but that at some point within the next 20 years, "AI will surpass humans in mathematics, biology, and engineering design." He added: "We are at a very dramatic point in history."

On the same day, appearing on the podcast Decoder, Gates predicted that while AI would create genuine abundance, the next 20 years would be "the most disruptive period in human history."

"If AI tells me, 'I'm better than you — go play pickleball, I'll handle this and get back to you later,' that's not something I can just laugh off," he said.