Scoop: "OG" Bill Gates returns to wage war on AI risks
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Bill Gates is gearing up to dramatically expand his AI safety push, personally leaning on business leaders and considering a major deployment of his resources, sources tell Axios.
Why it matters: The formidable, sharp-elbowed Bill Gates who built Microsoft is back, and he's directing his competitive fire toward what he has come to see as one of the most important causes of his lifetime.
- "I can reach CEOs on this better than you can," Gates told one person he consulted on AI safety, showing an eagerness for combat that associates say is a return to "OG" form.
Driving the news: Once a voice for optimism on AI, Gates has grown dismayed by an escalation of model capabilities, alarming security incidents and what he sees as insufficient regulation, sources say.
- As he prepared to make the case for a far more robust regulatory framework on AI, he conferred extensively with leading AI executives, researchers, and safety advocates, including Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei.
- That process led Gates to see containing AI risks as one of the most important issues he will engage with in his lifetime, the people said.
Behind the scenes: People Gates has spoken to called his advocacy a "comeback tour," an attempt to rebuild a legacy that has been tarnished by his past association with Jeffrey Epstein.
- Gates has said he's aware that some people may dismiss his warnings due to the Epstein ties.
- "What I did do, in some ways, was very limited, and it was motivated by my desire to raise money," Gates told Axios in August. "But ... it was a huge mistake."
- However, Gates sees the stakes as too high to stay on the sidelines and believes his Rolodex, foundational tech credibility and wealth can do an immense amount of good.
The big picture: This crusade marks a stark evolution for Gates, moving him from a measured optimist to an urgent alarmist.
- Just three years ago, Gates assured the public that "the risks of AI are real but manageable." He viewed the technology's disruptions as historical parallels to the introduction of the PC or the internet and argued that society would adapt.
- By August, his outlook had darkened considerably. In a sprawling essay, Gates warned that the current trajectory was volatile.
- He sounded the alarm in an interview with Axios, indicating that the world is dangerously unprepared for the economic and societal upheaval ahead.
Zoom in: Gates' research has convinced him to step beyond essays and media interviews, although he has yet to define the exact contours of his campaign.
- In his August essay, Gates called for new regulatory institutions capable of coordinating AI policy, reserving some jobs for humans and taxing AI usage and robots.
The stakes of the AI race have resurrected a version of the billionaire the tech world hasn't seen in decades. In recent interviews, he's shown flashes of the acid-tongued titan who ruthlessly built Microsoft, chiding journalist Ezra Klein for asking whether any regulation is needed beyond what Klein called "normal corporate reputational management."
- Gates sarcastically made fun of a world where lawsuits are the only form of regulation. "Say you kill 100 million people. You want to use a lawsuit? I almost can't keep a straight face."
- It is a jarring contrast to the softer, sweater-wearing philanthropist persona he has cultivated over the past 20 years.
What's next: Gates' calls for robust regulation will put him on a collision course with the Trump administration, which has favored a lighter regulatory touch, organizing a group of top officials to police the industry through a voluntary safety pact.
- As Gates' plans crystallize, it remains to be seen whether AI safety becomes a defining battle of his late career.
