Bill Gates: Biological weapons powered by AI “worse than Covid”

A threat “significantly worse than Covid”. Bill Gates warns of the possible consequences of malicious use of artificial intelligence in biology. In an interview with Madhumita Murgia for the Financial Times' Tech Tonic podcast, published on November 4, the Microsoft co-founder calls on governments to strengthen model monitoring and outbreak detection.

He distinguishes two immediate risks: the use of AI to carry out cyberattacks and its potential assistance in biological weapons projects. According to him, competition between laboratories makes self-regulation insufficient.

Key Points

Bill Gates believes that malicious use of AI could cause a health disaster surpassing that of Covid.

It calls for evaluations of the models and independent audits of their protections.

Researchers have already identified limitations in synthetic DNA order control tools.

He also fears an increase in cyberattacks, particularly those using cryptocurrencies to demand ransoms.

Bill Gates calls for better anticipation of biological risks from AI

Asked about biological risks, Bill Gates raises the possibility of an event “significantly worse than Covid”. It describes a potential scenario, without obviously announcing any identified threat or timetable. His concern concerns the possible damage and the insufficiency of the means of prevention.

In the interview with the Financial Times, he calls for coordinated monitoring of air, wastewater and blood samples. The goal is to spot an infection before it affects a large population.

Developers have already strengthened some protections. Anthropic activated its ASL-3 level for Claude Opus 4 in May 2025, as a precaution, in particular to limit assistance to activities related to biological weapons. This decision did not mean that the company had demonstrated a capability to produce such a weapon.

Furthermore, a study published in Science in October 2025, co-signed by Eric Horvitz, scientific director of Microsoft, showed that sequences redrawn by AI tools could escape the control software of synthetic DNA suppliers. Researchers have developed patches improving their detection. These results are about security filters, not the demonstration of an AI-created pandemic.

Bill Gates also emphasizes the dependence of hospitals, banks and power grids on complex software. In his eyes, advances in models make it easier to find vulnerabilities that could disrupt these infrastructures.

It particularly targets models with accessible settings, from which users can remove protections. He believes that the existence of an economic model based on cryptocurrency ransoms encourages attacks. This observation concerns their criminal use as a means of payment.

Faced with these risks, he calls for public intervention, especially American. It defends independent audits, protection evaluation criteria and work to secure existing software. The founder of Microsoft considers it unlikely that a laboratory alone will slow down sustainably in a competitive market.