Gates warns AI misuse could drive cyberattacks

Bill Gates warned that the most immediate danger from artificial intelligence is people using powerful models for cyberattacks, predicting that such misuse could grow sharply over the next year. He said attackers may exploit systems with safeguards removed to extort victims or disrupt financial markets and betting. In a Sunday interview, Gates said cyberattacks were the area where AI misuse was most likely to become more pronounced in the coming year. He described a familiar financial motive: attackers can threaten disruption and demand payment, or try to affect markets or betting activity. His comments were a forecast about potential misuse, not evidence that a new wave of AI-enabled attacks has occurred. Gates said safeguards intended to prevent cyberattacks and biological weapons development can be removed from AI models. He also said governments were not doing enough to guard against the possibility that AI could help people develop biological weapons. The interview did not establish that any such attack had taken place. He distinguished those near-term concerns from the possibility that AI systems could act beyond human control.