Bill Gates warns cyberattacks pose most immediate threat from AI

Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates has warned that the misuse of artificial intelligence could lead to a sharp rise in cyberattacks over the coming year, calling the threat an immediate concern as AI technology advances.

In an interview with ABC News on Sunday, Gates said the more pressing danger was not AI operating beyond human control, but malicious actors exploiting existing systems without adequate safeguards.

“The front that we'll probably see most dramatically in the next year is cyberattacks,” Gates said, highlighting the potential consequences of increasingly capable AI tools.

He noted that the possibility of AI becoming uncontrollable remained a longer-term concern, adding, “The real danger right now is not the AI's getting out of control. We need to work on that, but that's years away in terms of the big impact that might have.”

Gates warned that removing safety measures from advanced AI systems could enable malicious users to carry out cyberattacks and bioterrorism-related activities. He said the combination of powerful models and inadequate safeguards could result in serious incidents over the next year.

The Microsoft co-founder, who raised concerns in an August post about AI's potential impact on employment and society, also rejected the argument that technology companies could ensure public safety through voluntary self-regulation alone.

“The idea that for the most dangerous technology humans ever invented, that that's the final word, that just the companies themselves are the only check that society has...it's clear we're not doing enough,” Gates said.