Gates thinks AI could kill 1B people, can we trust his judgment after Epstein?

A columnist challenges Bill Gates’s credibility after his recent warning that AI could cause “a billion deaths,” arguing that such apocalyptic pronouncements ring hollow given Gates’s recent conduct and public relations rehabilitation. Rather than focus on hypothetical future risks, the columnist demands accountability for technology’s present harms - citing AI’s role in current conflicts - and questions why Gates should be treated as an unimpeachable expert on existential threats when his judgment on people and partnerships has been poor.

Central to the critique is Gates’s repeated association with Jeffrey Epstein: meetings after Epstein’s 2008 guilty plea, reportedly totalling many encounters, which Gates says he didn’t fully grasp the significance of. The columnist calls that explanation insufficient, noting Gates’s meticulous image management and his team’s efforts to cultivate trustworthiness, and criticises Gates for relying on Epstein to solicit philanthropic funds. While stopping short of alleging criminality, the piece labels Gates’s conduct foolish and concludes that his past lapses undercut confidence in his sweeping claims about AI’s dangers.