From The Guardian, September 26:
Microsoft co-founder and philanthropist speaks with NBC’s Kristen Welker in interview airing on Sunday
Bill Gates has called on the US’s federal legislators and law enforcers to regulate the development of artificial intelligence (AI), saying in an interview airing on Sunday that the technology left unchecked could cause “a billion deaths” and “no one thinks self-regulation is enough”.
“You need law enforcement and the politicians to get into the discussion about what safeguards and monitoring look like,” the Microsoft co-founder and philanthropist said to Kristen Welker, the NBC Meet the Press host. “And that has to be a required thing.”
Using a term meant to describe an expense required to run a business, Gates continued: “It will be a little bit of overhead for the industry – but not a dramatic slowing of what they’re doing.”
Another portion of the interview – excerpts of which NBC circulated in advance – saw Gates dramatically admonish that AI in the wrong hands would be “certainly powerful enough to drive events that, you know, cause a billion deaths”.
“There’s never been a weapon as powerful as the combination of people with ill intent using the latest AI tools,” Gates added, echoing other recent similar warnings by a wide array of tech and political figures.
Gates otherwise is generally regarded as optimistic about humans’ future. Many reporting or commenting on his conversation with Welker noted that it occurred in the wake of a nearly 6,000-word essay that he published in late August warning about AI and the potentially lethal ills it poses to humanity on a large scale....
....MUCH MORE
And at GeekWire, September 15:
Gates Foundation bets $1B on AI to boost global health, agriculture and education
