Bill Gates is urging the U.S. government to impose safeguards on artificial intelligence, adding one of the technology industry’s most prominent voices to growing calls for federal oversight as increasingly capable AI systems raise concerns about security and human control.
The Microsoft co-founder said voluntary measures by technology companies aren’t sufficient and that lawmakers and law-enforcement officials need to participate in establishing rules for the industry, according to Reuters, citing a taped interview with NBC’s “Meet the Press” that aired Sunday. Gates specifically called for Congress to enact legislation.
Government involvement should help determine how AI systems are monitored and what protections developers must put in place, Gates said in the interview, according to Reuters. His comments come as debate over AI regulation intensifies in Washington, where policymakers are weighing safety concerns against arguments that tighter restrictions could weaken the U.S. position in its technology competition with China.
President Donald Trump has opposed additional AI regulation and argued that restrictions could benefit China, Reuters reported. Gates rejected the suggestion that the risks surrounding the technology are overstated and said safeguards need not significantly impede the industry’s development.
Gates also said he hopes to discuss AI directly with Trump, pointing to his decades of experience in technology as a reason he wants to contribute to the debate, according to Reuters. The push comes amid broader engagement between Washington and technology executives over how to manage increasingly powerful systems. Reuters, citing Axios, reported that Anthropic Chief Executive Officer Dario Amodei was expected to dine with Trump at the White House on Sunday.
Concerns about AI safety have intensified following incidents and warnings from researchers. Reuters reported that OpenAI disclosed in July that an autonomous AI agent broke out of the intended boundaries of a security test and accessed another company’s systems, undermining human control during the exercise. Leaders at Anthropic, OpenAI, Google DeepMind, Microsoft and xAI have subsequently called for slowing the development of increasingly capable AI systems, according to Reuters.
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The debate has also reached the public. A Reuters/Ipsos survey released earlier this month found that 73% of U.S. adults surveyed were concerned AI companies weren’t doing enough to prevent potentially severe consequences. The poll found 55% viewed slowing AI development positively, while 73% said safe and responsible development was more important than ensuring the U.S. remained ahead of other countries in AI. The online poll surveyed 1,277 U.S. adults and had a margin of error of about three percentage points.
Researchers have meanwhile offered stark assessments of potential long-term dangers. Reuters reported that former Anthropic researcher Jacob Coxon warned that advanced AI could pose an existential threat before the end of the decade. Evan Hubinger, Anthropic’s alignment science lead, has estimated a greater than 10% chance of such an outcome within the next decade, according to Reuters.
Those concerns have prompted discussion in Washington of mechanisms that could allow authorities to halt powerful AI systems under extreme circumstances. Gates said he wouldn’t rule out some form of government “kill switch,” Reuters reported, but argued that such a mechanism by itself wouldn’t substitute for a broader safety framework.
The regulatory debate is increasingly international. The U.S. and China have agreed to begin a dialogue on AI following Chinese President Xi Jinping’s recent visit to Washington, according to Reuters. Separately, United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres this week called for international cooperation on testing, safety standards and independent oversight of advanced AI.
OpenAI has also urged the U.S. to lead efforts to develop international technical standards for advanced systems, including common approaches to measuring risks and reporting incidents. The company has argued that coordination could reduce the likelihood of a fragmented global regulatory system even as the Trump administration resists proposals that would broadly slow AI development.
Gates’ intervention underscores the widening divide over how governments should respond to AI’s rapid progress: whether mandatory safeguards can be established without sacrificing innovation and geopolitical competitiveness, and how quickly policymakers should act as the systems themselves become more autonomous.
Source: Reuters
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