The philanthropist and Microsoft co-founder told Sky’s The World With Yalda Hakim that artificial intelligence would make innovation “much easier to achieve”. But he also warned of the dangers of the technology used in cyber attacks and political interference.
Wednesday June 26, 2024 10:17 PM, UK
Bill Gates has said artificial intelligence (AI) will speed up innovation and make it easier to fight climate change – but also warned that it should be ‘used by people with good intentions’.
The philanthropist and Microsoft co-founder made the comments during an interview with Sky News at the Breakthrough Energy Summit in London.
Gates told The world with Yalda Hakim that AI had so far “played a fairly modest role” in combating climate change, but would make innovation “much easier to implement.”
He said: “AI helps us model things in the sciences: understanding materials better, and catalysts, and how to make proteins.
“AI will accelerate innovation in every field, whether in medicine or in tutoring and education.
“[With] climate [change]some of the complex stuff like fusion energy modeling – thank goodness AI will make that a lot easier.”
When asked if he was concerned about suggestions that such technologies could be used to overthrow governments, Gates said he had not “heard that specific scenario.”
“AI is so important that we need to make sure it is used mainly by people with good intentions,” he said.
He added that “any time you have a new technology”, it is “usually used by teachers, doctors and scientists to help them be more effective”, but said that “AI could also be used by” people involved in the event of cyber attacks or political interference.
“So you have to make sure that the good people continue to be at the forefront of detecting and preventing those types of uses,” he said.
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‘Penalties for fooling people’
Gates went on to say there was nothing ‘gigantic’ about AI, adding: “There is misinformation, but it has nothing to do with AI.”
He said we should “anticipate” that AI could be used in creating fake videos, which he said should be flagged as inauthentic.
“Because we know when something is printed on a piece of paper, anyone could have typed it, but we still consider videos to be somehow authentic because it used to be difficult to fake,” he said, urging people urged oneself to ask, “Where did this come from?”
“There will be laws imposing penalties for fooling people,” he added.
However, he remained optimistic about the future, adding: “The most important thing is the advancement of medical science, the advancement of education and tackling this climate problem and making sure that innovation happens even faster.”
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‘Great technology’
The question was whether AI can be used in cyber attacks infrastructure such as hospitalswater or electricity, Gates said: “The defense must be smarter than the offense. And both sides will use AI to improve their games.”
When asked if he was concerned about the future of AI, he said it is a “wonderful technology if used to help with education and healthcare.”
Gates added: “It will bring changes that will challenge governments to think, ‘How can we go a step further?’ And it’s at a time where, do people trust the government to step in and do these things?[s] are?
“So this dialogue where governments are starting to pay attention is very important.”