Washington, September 28, 2026 (Yes Punjab News)
Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates has warned that artificial intelligence could become powerful enough to trigger events resulting in up to a billion deaths, as debate intensifies in the United States over regulating advanced AI without undermining the country’s technological competitiveness.
Speaking to NBC’s “Meet the Press”, Gates said AI represented a technological development unlike previous advances and could become vastly more capable than humans within the coming years.
“This is truly an evolutionary event,” Gates said, arguing that AI systems were already smarter than humans in some respects and could improve at an exponential pace.
Asked whether AI could ultimately end humanity, Gates said the technology was “certainly powerful enough” to drive events that could cause a billion deaths.
He also warned about the combination of advanced AI capabilities and malicious intent, particularly in areas such as biological and cyber threats.
Gates said governments currently lacked enough expertise to identify dangerous thresholds and rejected voluntary safeguards by technology companies as sufficient.
“No one thinks self-regulation is enough,” he said, calling for legislation requiring AI systems to have safeguards and monitoring capabilities. Gates acknowledged that such requirements would impose costs on the industry but argued they would not significantly slow technological development.
The comments came amid a broader US debate over how to regulate frontier AI. Representative Ro Khanna has called for a verifiable agreement between the United States and China to prohibit AI systems capable of recursively improving themselves until adequate safeguards are established.
Khanna said self-improving systems could eventually train themselves without human involvement, creating risks to human control. He proposed a US-China working group involving technology experts to negotiate common restrictions and monitoring arrangements.
US Ambassador to the United Nations Mike Waltz said Washington and Beijing had agreed to establish a dialogue on superintelligence following US President Donald Trump’s meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping. He said experts would discuss guardrails covering areas including biological weapons research and nuclear systems.
However, US Attorney General Todd Blanche cautioned against excessive regulation, arguing that existing criminal and civil laws could already be used when AI was involved in unlawful activity. He warned that sweeping restrictions could undermine US leadership in the global AI race.
India is also expanding AI applications across public services, healthcare, agriculture, education and digital commerce, while New Delhi has emphasised safety, accountability and equitable access alongside continued innovation.
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