Bill Gates Calls for International AI Regulation, Cites "Alien Intelligence" Risk

By chasecodewell // 2026-09-18

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Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates said in a Reuters interview published Tuesday, Sept. 15, that no national government is adequately prepared for artificial intelligence (AI) and that an international body should be created to police the technology, according to ZeroHedge ^[1]. "I don't think any government is nearly as deep on this as they have to be," Gates told Reuters. "Governments are way behind on this one." During a separate interview on "The Times Tech Pod," he added: "It's not the role of the industry to self-regulate or understand the whole-of-society impact that comes out of AI... The depth of understanding of AI... is too low in every entity, including the government" ^[1]. Gates compared the technology to an alien intelligence and said he wants a permanent cross-border watchdog modeled on nuclear inspections, aviation rules, and ozone treaties, according to Modernity News ^[2]. He wrote in a late-August essay that "the transition to the AI era will be one of the most turbulent times in human history" and that "unfortunately, right now, we are not preparing for it" ^[3].

Foundation Pledges $1 Billion as Critics Cite Contradiction

On Tuesday, the Gates Foundation pledged at least $1 billion over two years to expand AI in education, health and agriculture, the ZeroHedge report stated. The pledge sits inside a previously announced $9 billion-a-year spend, with 40% earmarked for tutoring and classroom tools, 40% or diagnostics and drug discovery and the remainder for farming advice and the data layer that makes models work in languages other than English ^[1]. David Sirota, founder of The Lever, wrote on X: "Bill Gates is warning about the dangers of AI while spending $1 billion to promote the expansion of AI" ^[1]. Gates addressed the tension himself in a 6,000-word manifesto published Aug. 26, acknowledging, according to NaturalNews.com, a "potential bias" because he has "benefited enormously" from the tech industry and retains financial and institutional ties to the sector he seeks to regulate ^[3].

Trump, Obama, Sanders and China Enter the Debate

President Donald Trump rejected any pause in AI development, saying the U.S. is "leading China in AI" and "Whoever wins AI, wins," according to ZeroHedge. Asked about existential risk while leaving Dallas, he said: "No, I don't have any" ^[1]. Former President Barack Obama told House Minority Leader Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) at a Manhattan fundraiser that if Democrats win the House, they should make AI a governing project. "This is something that is moving very fast in private hands, and if we don't get on top of it, I think can be dangerous," Obama reportedly said. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), speaking at a Washington "Pro-Human Assembly," called for a pause-and-ban treaty ahead of the coming Trump-Xi meeting. According to Sanders, a runaway system "will not be an American problem. It will not be a Chinese problem. It will be humanity's problem" ^[1]. China's spy chief Chen Yixin wrote in the state-run magazine China Cyberspace that AI is "directly threatening our political security, institutional security and ideological security" and called for tighter Chinese Communist Party control ^[1].

Industry Figures and Media Amplify Warnings

Netflix released "The AI Doc: Or How I Became an Apocaloptimist," a Sundance premiere from Oscar-winner Daniel Roher and Charlie Tyrell that features Sam Altman, Dario Amodei, Demis Hassabis, Reid Hoffman and Yuval Noah Harari ^[1]. One producer said the hope was that it would work "kind of like 'An Inconvenient Truth' or 'The Social Dilemma' for AI" ^[1]. Amodei, Anthropic's CEO, called on rivals to "pace the frontier," and tech figures including Altman and X owner Elon Musk backed an open letter urging a slowdown, according to ZeroHedge ^[1]. Fox News host Jesse Watters noted that the same CEOs are "begging for government regulations" while claiming the technology is more powerful than a nuclear weapon, adding: "Something smells fishy with these IPOs" ^[1]. Anthropic published a separate threat report saying China-linked actors had already used its Claude model for weapons software and intelligence work. The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs dismissed Anthropic's accusations as a "smear" ^[1].

Debate Centers on Regulation, Competition, and Control

Gates has pitched his global AI watchdog idea to Trump's team and said he wants a meeting with China's Xi Jinping later this year, according to yourNEWS ^[4]. He also has called for taxes on AI and robots to protect jobs for humans, telling audiences that "Many jobs will disappear forever," according to the Epoch Times ^[5]. Australian Labor Minister Tim Ayres rejected Gates' call for a tax on AI tokens at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute's Sydney Dialogue AI Masterclass, warning against a "loser narrative" promoted by Big Tech companies ^[6]. Critics argue that regulation written by incumbents would freeze the ladder for smaller labs. David Sacks, named by ZeroHedge, wrote that demanding antitrust waivers, embedded evaluators and a regulatory architecture as the price of restraint "will look like blackmail of the public and the political system" ^[1]. The dispute continues over whether international oversight is needed for safety or would centralize control over a technology American labs still lead.

References

Steve Watson. "Bill Gates Calls For Globalist Crackdown On AI". ZeroHedge. September 17, 2026.
Modernity News. "Bill Gates Calls For GLOBALIST Crackdown On AI". September 16, 2026.
NaturalNews.com. "Bill Gates pushes global AI control plan, citing job losses and security risks despite his own financial stake". September 1, 2026.
yourNEWS. "Bill Gates Seeks Talks With Xi Jinping on Global Rules to Address AI Risks". August 26, 2026.
Tom Gantert. "Most Jobs Will Disappear Forever: Bill Gates Calls For Taxes On AI And Robots To Protect Jobs For Humans". The Epoch Times. August 27, 2026.
The Epoch Times. "Australian Minister Rejects Bill Gates' AI Token Tax, Warns Against 'Loser Narrative'". September 16, 2026.

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