Tech billionaire and Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates has offered a chilling warning on the rapid development of artificial intelligence.

While appearing on NBC's Meet the Press on Sunday, Gates called for greater government oversight of the emerging tech, while sharing that it could cause 'a billion deaths.'

'AI is certainly powerful enough to drive events that cause a billion deaths,' Gates told Meet the Press moderator Kirsten Welker, before adding, 'So even though it's pretty hard to get to 100 per cent [of humanity], there's never been a weapon as powerful as the combination of people with ill intent using the latest AI tools.'

Gates also appeared to offer up some potential solutions, when asked by Welker, 'what would prevent tragedies from happening due to AI specifically?'

He warned that artificial intelligence could make it dangerously difficult to distinguish between scientists developing lifesaving medicines and bad actors seeking to create biological weapons.

'I wish it was easier to distinguish good intent, like I want to design a new drug for a disease, versus negative intent, which is I want to design a tool of bioterrorism,' Gates told Welker.

The Microsoft co-founder also argued that the potential risks make strict oversight of advanced AI systems essential, calling on the United States to take the lead in establishing safeguards.

'Because those are so close, we do need to monitor any sophisticated model and record exactly what's being done,' he said.

Gates suggested that China would pursue similar measures but emphasized that the US should establish clear standards for the industry.

'You'll hear from the industry, it's a very doable thing. It would not slow them down dramatically,' he said.

He also drew a distinction between implementing safeguards and the broader debate over whether AI development itself should be slowed.

'It's these safeguards, their monitoring, are separate from would we be better off slowing down,' Gates explained.

President Donald Trump denied the idea that AI advances will mean the end of the human race when asked about it by reporters earlier this month, noting that those were 'things that won't happen.' 

'We're leading China in AI. We're the most sophisticated country in the world, and frankly, I want to keep it that way because whoever wins AI wins,' Trump told reporters at his golf course in Doonbeg while attending the Irish Open earlier this month.

House Republican Speaker Mike Johnson has also chimed in on the issue as well, noting in a CNN interview earlier in September: 'We can not put a moratorium on this because China will overlap us.' 

Democrats, however, seem more keen to regulate the emerging technologies. 

Former Democratic President Barack Obama shared his thoughts on the matter at a recent private gathering, first covered by the New York Times.

'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,' the Times claimed Obama stated at an event this month.

Obama, who believes that House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries will be the next Speaker after the November elections, also urged the top Democrat to act.

'Once you are speaker, I would strongly urge that the Democrats put together a framework for a very public conversation,' Obama told Jeffries per the Times.

This comes after Anthropic researcher Jacob Coxon sensationally resigned from his position and accused the company and its rival OpenAI of not doing enough to address the potential dangers of the technology earlier this month.

Coxon warned that researchers working in the field believe AI could potentially 'kill all humans' by the end of the decade.

Days later, an Anthropic report said that it has stopped several potential plots to build biological weapons using its artificial intelligence this year.

The company determined that scientists were using its platforms to conduct research that could be used to develop biological weapons, according to the company's new AI misuse report that was obtained by The New York Times.

Anthropic was unable to determine if the research 'served a legitimate or nefarious purpose,' the report said.

The firm noted that valid biological inquiry can result in scientific breakthroughs like vaccines, but the company erred on the side of caution because that same research could also be used to create dangerous pathogens.