Bill Gates, the founder of Microsoft, warned that getting the world’s countries to a common framework for regulating artificial intelligence may be even more complicated than the difficult Cold War negotiations to limit nuclear weapons.
According to ITNA, Gates, in a conversation on NBC News’s "Meet the Press" program, which aired Sunday, emphasized the need for the United States to take the lead in global AI regulation and said this path will be harder than the nuclear arms limitation talks.
Gates’s remarks came as he also spoke about Donald Trump’s stance on AI regulation.
Earlier this month, Trump opposed any federal restrictions on companies that build AI models and wrote in a post on Truth Social that the United States will remain on track to lead in the AI competition with China and other countries.
Before meeting with Xi Jinping, the president of China, Trump had also mentioned "Super Intelligence" as one of the main topics of that meeting in another post.
Concerns about short-term risks
In the interview, Gates emphasized that regardless of long-term debates about existential risks of AI to humanity, limits should be imposed as soon as possible to prevent potentially catastrophic events that could be organized with the help of AI.
He said the greatest current danger is malicious people abusing AI for fraud, disrupting the power grid, or manipulating bank accounts-actions that have become easier for attackers with the help of this technology.
The Microsoft founder, referring to past global collaborations on issues like aviation safety, ozone layer protection, and nuclear arms control, said the United States played the role of a fair actor in those times and now it is time to view the AI issue again with the perspective that "humanity is all in this together."