Uploaded August 2026 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
Bill Gates has generally been an AI optimist. Three years ago, he wrote that AI had downsides, but the risks were “manageable.” This week, Gates wrote a new memo, headlined: “The Turbulent AI Era Is Here. The Choices We Make Now Are Critical.”
He joins the show to raise the alarm about the dangers he sees in artificial intelligence—economic upheaval, social unrest, cyberattacks, bioterrorism—and most crucial, what he sees as a failure of experts and governments to take these threats seriously enough.
“The lack of dialogue with all parts of society is kind of deafening silence,” he tells Hanna Rosin. “Anyone who analogizes AI as a technology to other technologies is missing that this time is different. And saying something is different, there’s a very high bar for that, but I’m staking whatever reputation I have [on] saying this time is different.”
They have a wide-ranging conversation about his evolving views on AI and what he misjudged in his interactions with Jeffrey Epstein.
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#theatlantic #radioatlantic #podcast #news #billgates #ai #jeffreyepstein
00:00 Introduction and Why AI Feels Different
01:26 Gates’s Tone Shift on AI
07:14 Bioterror and Cyber Risks
09:23 Why AI Regulation Lags
11:36 Jobs and Human-Reserved Work
17:23 China and Industry Limits
20:48 Epstein and Reputation
26:32 Can We Regulate AI?
Subscribe to The Atlantic on YouTube: bit.ly/subAtlanticYT
Bill Gates has generally been an AI optimist. Three years ago, he wrote that AI had downsides, but the risks were “manageable.” This week, Gates wrote a new memo, headlined: “The Turbulent AI Era Is Here. The Choices We Make Now Are Critical.”
He joins the show to raise the alarm about the dangers he sees in artificial intelligence—economic upheaval, social unrest, cyberattacks, bioterrorism—and most crucial, what he sees as a failure of experts and governments to take these threats seriously enough.
“The lack of dialogue with all parts of society is kind of deafening silence,” he tells Hanna Rosin. “Anyone who analogizes AI as a technology to other technologies is missing that this time is different. And saying something is different, there’s a very high bar for that, but I’m staking whatever reputation I have [on] saying this time is different.”
They have a wide-ranging conversation about his evolving views on AI and what he misjudged in his interactions with Jeffrey Epstein.
Subscribe to the “Radio Atlantic” podcast on Spotify:
open.spotify.com/show/4vlgAVfHGyzoHYVmY67yFL
Follow The Atlantic on Instagram: instagram.com/theatlantic/?hl=en
Get more from your favorite Atlantic voices when you subscribe. You’ll enjoy unlimited access to Pulitzer-winning journalism, from clear-eyed analysis and insight on breaking news to fascinating explorations of our world. Atlantic subscribers also get access to exclusive subscriber audio in Apple Podcasts. Subscribe today at TheAtlantic.com/Listener.
#theatlantic #radioatlantic #podcast #news #billgates #ai #jeffreyepstein
00:00 Introduction and Why AI Feels Different
01:26 Gates’s Tone Shift on AI
07:14 Bioterror and Cyber Risks
09:23 Why AI Regulation Lags
11:36 Jobs and Human-Reserved Work
17:23 China and Industry Limits
20:48 Epstein and Reputation
26:32 Can We Regulate AI?
Subscribe to The Atlantic on YouTube: bit.ly/subAtlanticYT
