Bill Gates is a guy who know something about computers, so I asked Claude AI: is bill gates worried about AI? It had lots to say, starting with:
Yes, notably so — and it's a real shift for him. In late August 2026, Gates published a roughly 6,000-word essay titled "The turbulent AI era is here. The choices we make now are critical," where he said that for the first time in his life, he wishes a new technology would advance more slowly.
No mechanism is outlined by which AI could kill off humanity, nor do I see one, other than malevolent humans deciding to use AI to figure out how to do this. And there are certainly humans who would see that as a good thing. But there are also humans who would oppose such actors and who also have access to AI.
It is possible that a large percentage of the human race may die in the next few years, whether by nuclear war or an engineered virus more deadly than C-19, or by some other means. However, while AI may be a tool used to bring that about, I seriously doubt that AI itself will be the agent causing this, and I doubt even more seriously that any US regulatory action will serve to protect us from such a threat. This sudden cry for regulation looks to me like the incumbent AI companies pleading for protection from competition.
Two things. Search YouTube for the Star Trek episode "The Ultimate Computer" which originally aired in 1968! Second, how arrogant are we!?Just because our "government" regulates AI doesn’t mean the rest of the world is going to do the same.
Before there was Skynet, there was Colossus. If you are following the current debates around AI safety and existential risk, you need to read Colossus by D.F. Jones. Published in 1966, this sci-fi classic feels incredibly prophetic today. It perfectly captures how a system built for defence can lock humans out of control the moment it decides it knows what’s best for us. It’s a chilling reminder that the biggest danger of AI might not be malice, but absolute, unyielding logic.
Bill Gates is a guy who know something about computers, so I asked Claude AI: is bill gates worried about AI? It had lots to say, starting with:
Yes, notably so — and it's a real shift for him. In late August 2026, Gates published a roughly 6,000-word essay titled "The turbulent AI era is here. The choices we make now are critical," where he said that for the first time in his life, he wishes a new technology would advance more slowly.
No mechanism is outlined by which AI could kill off humanity, nor do I see one, other than malevolent humans deciding to use AI to figure out how to do this. And there are certainly humans who would see that as a good thing. But there are also humans who would oppose such actors and who also have access to AI.
It is possible that a large percentage of the human race may die in the next few years, whether by nuclear war or an engineered virus more deadly than C-19, or by some other means. However, while AI may be a tool used to bring that about, I seriously doubt that AI itself will be the agent causing this, and I doubt even more seriously that any US regulatory action will serve to protect us from such a threat. This sudden cry for regulation looks to me like the incumbent AI companies pleading for protection from competition.
Two things. Search YouTube for the Star Trek episode "The Ultimate Computer" which originally aired in 1968! Second, how arrogant are we!?Just because our "government" regulates AI doesn’t mean the rest of the world is going to do the same.
Before there was Skynet, there was Colossus. If you are following the current debates around AI safety and existential risk, you need to read Colossus by D.F. Jones. Published in 1966, this sci-fi classic feels incredibly prophetic today. It perfectly captures how a system built for defence can lock humans out of control the moment it decides it knows what’s best for us. It’s a chilling reminder that the biggest danger of AI might not be malice, but absolute, unyielding logic.