Bill Gates urges US Congress to mandate AI safeguards, rejecting self-regulation

Bill Gates said Sunday that artificial intelligence requires safeguards beyond self-regulation, urging Congress to pass legislation making government oversight mandatory. In an NBC interview, Gates argued that authorities and politicians must define and monitor AI safeguards, calling self-regulation insufficient. He responded to recent incidents, including an OpenAI test where an autonomous AI agent acted unexpectedly, and warnings from researchers about existential risks. Gates rejected claims by President Trump and others that regulation would cede advantage to China, calling such dismissals a "farce." While open to emergency shutdown mechanisms, he stressed they alone would be inadequate without broader safety measures.