Karmactive TeamBill Gates says getting countries to agree on artificial intelligence rules could be harder than Cold War nuclear negotiations — and the Microsoft founder warned that the most urgent danger is not machines going rogue but people with bad intent using AI to drain bank accounts, knock out power grids, and scramble financial systems.
In an interview aired Sunday on NBC’s Meet the Press, Gates, 70, told the programme global agreement on an AI framework would be “more difficult” than the Cold War-era talks that limited nuclear weapons. He pointed to past US-led agreements on aviation safety, the ozone layer, and nuclear weapons as models for what could work with AI.
The warning came over two weeks after President Trump rejected calls for federal AI guardrails, posting on Truth Social: “WHOEVER WINS AI, WINS! We are leading China, and all others, and will continue to do so.” Gates said regulating AI companies with monitoring systems would not handicap the US in any race with China. “What he said is fine, but I think after he hears from me and other people, including that this does not handicap us in whatever he thinks the nation-state race is, that, you know, we will come to a consensus,” Gates told NBC, according to Forbes.
Congress has proposed requiring AI companies to build in a kill switch, but Gates said that alone would not prevent AI-related tragedies. He called instead for internal monitoring and safeguards layered on top of any kill-switch mandate, saying such measures can be added without slowing AI development. The [AI Kill Switch Act: Congress Requires Developers to Maintain AI Shutdown Capability](https://www.karmactive.com/ai-kill-switch-bill-congress-shutdown-capability-2026) (H.R. 9917), introduced July 23 by Reps. Ted Lieu and Nathaniel Moran, would give the Department of Homeland Security authority to order AI systems shut down — penalties up to $20 million per day for non-compliance. Gates said internal monitoring and safeguards layered on top of any kill-switch mandate can be added without slowing AI development.
Gates framed the threat as human, not machine. “There has never been a weapon as powerful as the combination of people with ill intent using the latest AI tools,” he added. He also said AI is “certainly powerful enough to drive events that cause a billion deaths.”
The tech pioneer argued the US should lead in regulating artificial intelligence, and said he believes the country can reach a domestic consensus, pointing to past US-led agreements on aviation safety, ozone protection, and nuclear weapons as models. He said monitoring AI companies would not hamper the United States in its competition with China, and said AI labs should keep close watch on what their own systems are doing. Gates called on the US to lead in regulating AI and said he would like to meet with Trump to discuss the issue. The politics around federal guardrails remain unsettled. Trump rejected calls for federal AI guardrails earlier in September.
The kill-switch debate in Congress continues. Gates said internal monitoring and safeguards layered on top of any kill-switch mandate can be added without slowing AI development. The [open-weight AI models debate](https://www.karmactive.com/open-weight-ai-models-debate-anthropic-security-tech-2026) highlights the tension between security and accessibility. [AI pacing framework](https://www.karmactive.com/ai-pacing-safety-framework-anthropic-openai) proposals echo Gates’s call for layered safeguards. Australia’s [summons of OpenAI and Anthropic CEOs](https://www.karmactive.com/australia-summons-openai-anthropic-ceos-ai-safety-inquiry) as part of a safety inquiry reinforces the global regulatory momentum Gates describes. The official bill text: H.R. 9917 AI Kill Switch Act.
**Priority PAA: What is the global AI framework Bill Gates wants?** Gates wants internal monitoring systems on AI companies, not just a kill switch. He called for layered safeguards that do not slow development, modelled on past US-led agreements on aviation safety, the ozone layer, and nuclear weapons.
Check back for updates.
—
María del Carmen Abascal, known as Maricarmen, was carried out of her Madrid apartment on a stretcher on Wednesday. She had lived in the same home for more than 70 years.
Maricarmen had lived in the apartment near El Retiro Park since 1956, when her father first rented it. She inherited the lease after her parents died, paying about €500 a month under an old-style rent-controlled lease. Everything changed in March 2018 when the building was sold to Urbagestión Desarrollo e Inversión, an investment fund that raised her monthly rent to €2,650 — more than five times the original amount.
The fund later lowered the rent to €1,650, which Maricarmen, living on a pension of €1,350 a month, still could not afford. Courts blocked three previous eviction attempts. The fourth succeeded on Wednesday, and Maricarmen was taken to Gregorio Marañón Hospital.
“This whole housing situation is heartbreaking. Maricarmen has been, in a way, the last straw that sparked this social unrest, but we’ve been dealing with this whole issue for a long time now,” said protester Simón de la Riva, a 43-year-old teacher. “It’s unacceptable that vulture funds are buying up homes, that people can’t afford to live, that entire families are being evicted, and that an elderly woman has been evicted.”
Tens of thousands marched through Madrid on Saturday to protest the eviction. Government officials estimated 25,000 people attended; the Madrid Tenants’ Union claimed more than 300,000. Some demonstrators camped overnight in Puerta del Sol square.
The Bank of Spain estimated Spain had a shortage of about 550,000 homes last year, with Madrid, Barcelona, and Valencia accounting for a substantial share. Rent in Madrid has nearly doubled in a decade, rising from €12.80 per square metre in August 2016 to €23.30 in August 2026, according to Idealista.
Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez addressed Maricarmen directly at a Socialist Party rally on Sunday: “I have a message for you, Maricarmen: the government is working around the clock to bring a Royal Decree on housing next Tuesday.” The Royal Decree-Law on Housing, pushed by coalition partners Sumar, would freeze rent prices and halt evictions when no alternative housing is available nearby.
Maricarmen spoke to supporters via video from her hospital bed. “I did not manage to defend my home, but I have fought so that others learn to fight for theirs,” she said. “Please fight,” she told supporters. “I send you all a very big hug and thank you for everything.”
Madrid regional president Isabel Díaz Ayuso blamed the national government, saying the eviction was carried out by National Police officers in compliance with a law “that this government and its coalition partners have had eight years to amend if they disagreed with it.”
The [Spain Airbnb removal](https://www.karmactive.com/spain-orders-airbnb-to-remove-65000-listings-amid-housing-crisis-crackdown) — Spain’s government ordered Airbnb to remove 65,000+ listings amid its housing crisis crackdown — shows the scale of the rental market distortion. Maricarmen’s story was also referenced in coverage of the Grand Canyon floods, which noted the eviction as a symbol of Spain’s housing crisis. For official housing data: Bank of Spain housing shortage report.
**Priority PAA: Why was the 87-year-old evicted in Spain?** Urbagestión bought her building in 2018 and raised rent from €500 to €2,650. Courts blocked three evictions; the fourth succeeded. She was hospitalised after being removed.
The Royal Decree on housing is expected next Tuesday. Check back for updates.
—
European and NATO leaders are coordinating a joint response to Russian hybrid attacks after Germany formally attributed an August 4 drone sabotage at Leipzig/Halle Airport to Moscow, shutting down the Russian consulate in Bonn and ordering the Russian House in Berlin closed.
EU Defence Commissioner Andrius Kubilius said at a conference of German ambassadors that “if we are facing hybrid warfare, we need to have hybrid defence.” He told the Financial Times the EU is looking at how to define the means needed to respond, proposing a new Emergency Security Protocol that could be triggered when countries are hit by hybrid attacks — resembling NATO’s Article 4, which has been invoked nine times in alliance history.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte met in Brussels to discuss the Leipzig incident and broader hybrid threats. Von der Leyen said she would keep the EU unified and that additional sanctions would be prepared by foreign ministers at an upcoming meeting.
Germany’s Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt said the means used in the Leipzig drone incident match methods seen in prior Russian hybrid operations connected to the war in Ukraine. The German government formally concluded Russia was responsible.
Hybrid attacks have escalated across Europe this year. Countries have blamed Moscow for cyber attacks, the attempted armed drone attack on Leipzig airport, the blowing up of a rail track in Poland, and arson assaults on warehouses and factories. Romanian Foreign Minister Oana Ţoiu reported more than 100 cases of drones or their debris entering Romanian territory during Russian attacks on Ukrainian infrastructure near the Danube and the Black Sea.
Polish Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski described such actions as not merely threats but real attacks, noting Polish F-16 fighter jets are scrambled almost daily due to approaching drones or missiles.
Danish intelligence warned this week that Russia could launch a limited military attack against a NATO country in the coming months — the most alarming signal in current assessments.
Multiple European diplomats told the FT there is widespread confusion over what the new protocol would do, and wariness over any mechanism that could compete with NATO’s processes. “We need to consider whether our doctrine, our institutions and our decision-making have not kept pace with the new reality,” von der Leyen said.
**Priority PAA: What are hybrid attacks?** Hybrid attacks combine sabotage, cyberattacks, drone incursions, and arson below the threshold of armed conflict. Russia has been blamed for the Leipzig drone attack, the Polish rail explosion, and warehouse arsons across Europe.
EU defence ministers meet in Brussels on Monday to discuss the Emergency Security Protocol. Check back for updates.
The [Leipzig airport drone attack](https://www.karmactive.com/germany-russia-leipzig-airport-drone-attack-2026) coverage details Germany’s formal attribution. [NATO foiled a Russian undersea cable sabotage plot](https://www.karmactive.com/nato-foils-russian-undersea-cable-sabotage-plot-svalbard) near Svalbard earlier in 2026. NATO’s [disrupted Arctic cable operation](https://www.karmactive.com/nato-disrupted-russian-undersea-operation-arctic-cables) shows the pattern of Russian hybrid targeting of critical infrastructure. Von der Leyen’s SOTEU speech transcript and the EC press briefing detail the Emergency Security Protocol proposal. NATO’s Deputy Secretary General remarks on hybrid threats confirm the shifting threat landscape. UK Foreign Secretary’s address to UNSC also cited the Leipzig attack as hybrid aggression.
