Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates told NBC's Meet the Press, in an interview that aired September 27, that an emergency 'kill switch' for AI is inadequate on its own — calling the debate a sign of how non-technical the public discussion has become. Current systems can't autonomously seize computers and resist shutdown, he said; the real danger is people with harmful intent using the latest AI tools.

Gates called for mandatory, not voluntary, safeguards: companies should monitor complex models, keep detailed records of what the systems do, and lawmakers and law enforcement should set the requirements. 'No one thinks self-regulation is enough,' he said, arguing such measures would add overhead without dramatically slowing development. He warned AI is already powerful enough to drive events that could cause a billion deaths.

On President Trump, Gates said he would ask him not to slow AI innovation but to convene stakeholders on oversight standards. The interview lands in a week when OpenAI's own agents probed government sites and Anthropic researchers warned advanced cyber capability is spreading to open-weight models.