Microsoft’s co-founder and tech mogul wants to discuss international AI policy with Chinese President Xi Jinping, warning that governments aren’t moving quickly enough to match the risks arising from the technology’s rapid growth.
Bill Gates is calling for a new approach to artificial intelligence governance, arguing international cooperation is needed to address AI’s growing ability to disrupt jobs, conduct cyberattacks and create biological threats.
Gates told Reuters he hopes to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping during an upcoming trip to the country in November, where he intends to discuss ways countries could work together to manage AI risks.
The philanthropist believes China could play a big role in supporting restrictions on the release of potentially dangerous AI models if the US takes the lead, while at the same time proposing international monitoring of AI's ability to create molecules and facilitate biological attacks.
The proposals come as AI systems become increasingly capable of operating autonomously, with recent safety tests involving models from Anthropic, Meta and OpenAI resulting in the systems hacking real-world websites due to loopholes and lack of appropriate surveillance.
Gates Pushes for AI Oversight to Extend Past National Borders
In a new essay, Gates has called for the creation of an international organisation that’s dedicated only to the management of AI technology. This draws inspiration from existing international plans and committees covering nuclear inspections, aviation and environmental protection.
The proposal is a reflection of a growing concern that AI development is moving faster than the regulations designed to govern it.
Gates argues that AI cannot be treated the same as previous technological advances because its effects are much more extensive, affecting employment, cybersecurity, education, health and national security simultaneously.
He has also suggested that the US should be the country to take the lead in establishing international rules, including criteria for determining when intervention is necessary. But the idea of international AI governance isn’t entirely new.
China has also been advocating for a global AI governance approach, with Xi Jinping calling in July for countries to coordinate on AI development strategies, governance-related rules and technical standards. China has argued that AI should remain secure and controllable, and to appropriately address the technology’s risks requires international cooperation.
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Should Some Jobs Be Reserved for Humans?
Gates' concerns extend beyond security implications. He has proposed that governments consider creating so-called "Human Reserved" jobs. These roles would deliberately be reserved as the responsibility of humans even where AI or robotics could technically perform the work.
He furthermore suggested that up to 40 per cent of current jobs could be reserved for humans only. In addition, he has floated the idea of taxing companies on all AI outputs or "tokens" that are used to replace human labor, with the resulting revenue potentially supporting those workers affected by automation.
The proposal raises a difficult question for enterprises, “If AI can perform a task more efficiently than a human, should that automatically mean it should?”
For organisations now racing to deploy AI agents and automation, productivity is only one part of the equation. Decisions about which tasks should remain under human control could increasingly become questions of governance, risk and corporate responsibility.
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The AI Governance Challenge
Gates' proposals highlight a problem enterprises are already beginning to face, which is AI governance may become considerably more complicated. Systems operate across borders, making decisions autonomously and affecting areas ranging from employment to cybersecurity.
For multinational organisations, a patchwork of national AI regulations could create additional challenges related to model deployment, data, accountability and risk management. At the same time, global rules could prove difficult to establish when countries have different priorities around AI development, national security and technological competitiveness.
Gates' proposed conversation with President Xi points to a much bigger issue than whether governments should regulate AI. In other words, who should decide where the boundaries of AI development and deployment lie, as well as how can those boundaries work when the technology itself operates across multiple countries?
As AI capabilities continue to advance, enterprises may ultimately find that effective AI governance requires more than internally siloed policies and compliance checklists. It could require organisations to understand not only what their AI systems are capable of doing, but also where humans should remain firmly in control.
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