Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) co-founder Bill Gates has warned that reaching international consensus on an AI governance framework could prove harder than Cold War-era nuclear arms negotiations.
Gates, 70, whose estimated fortune stands at $115 billion, made the remarks in an interview that aired Sunday on NBC’s Meet the Press, expressing a desire to meet personally with President Donald Trump to discuss the issue.
The comments come after Trump posted on Truth Social: “WHOEVER WINS AI, WINS! We are leading China, and all others, and will continue to do so.”
Gates argued that placing monitoring systems on AI companies would not disadvantage the United States in any technological competition with China.
“What he said is fine, but I think after he hears from me and other people, including that this does not handicap us in whatever he thinks the nation-state race is, that, you know, we will come to a consensus,” Gates said.
Gates pointed to a broader tradition of American global leadership, noting the country’s record of forging international agreements on aviation safety, the ozone layer, and nuclear weapons since World War Two.
“And AI is one we’re going to have to go back to this, ‘Hey, humanity is all in this together,'” Gates told NBC.
Trump has taken a sharply opposing position, describing efforts to limit AI as a “SICK conspiracy” and declaring earlier this month that “AI taking over the World, destroying Humanity, and all other things bad, is a HOAX.”
Gates directly rejected that framing, telling NBC, “It’s not a hoax at all,” while expressing hope that his standing in the technology sector would carry weight with the administration.
“I hope that, given my life’s work in the field, my saying how unique and different this is and how concerned I am will add to what he’s hearing from other people,” Gates said, echoing calls from Anthropic co-founder Dario Amodei and others pushing for new AI regulations.
Gates went further, warning during the interview that “AI is certainly powerful enough to drive events that cause a billion deaths,” adding that “there has never been a weapon as powerful as the combination of people with ill intent using the latest AI tools.”
Those concerns align with warnings from within Anthropic itself, where alignment science lead Evan Hubinger has stated there is more than a 10% risk of an AI-driven catastrophic event within the next decade.
Former Anthropic researcher Jacob Coxon similarly warned in September that AI could pose an existential threat to humanity before the end of the decade, prompting calls from U.S. lawmakers for new governing rules.
Trump, meanwhile, confirmed plans for a dinner meeting with Anthropic’s CEO on Sunday night, while reiterating his belief that regulation would cede technological ground to Beijing.
“We’re about maybe a year and a half up on China,” Trump told Fox News while attending the Presidents Cup golf tournament in Illinois, signaling that maintaining that lead remains his primary concern over safety guardrails.
