Bill Gates has added his voice to the growing call for AI regulation, saying in an interview with NBC News' Meet the Press that "it's completely irresponsible not to require every AI to have these safeguards and monitoring capabilities." His comments come after several leading AI CEOs agreed that development should be slowed, and as companies begin to adopt external oversight — Anthropic recently hired Accenture as a third-party evaluator for its models.
Gates was less enthusiastic about one proposed safeguard: a "kill switch" floated by California Governor Gavin Newsom. While Gates said he would never declare himself against the idea, he argued it would not solve the more immediate problem. "The most dangerous thing we're facing right now is people with bad intent using AI," he said, citing risks such as bioterrorism and large-scale financial fraud.
He also encouraged lawmakers and law enforcement to take part in deciding what safeguards AI companies should build in. Gates acknowledged this would add overhead to the industry, but said it would not cause a "dramatic slowing" of AI development.