India, Sept. 26 -- Microsoft Corp. co-founder Bill Gates has backed warnings issued by artificial intelligence (AI) leaders in the recent days, claiming the tool was "powerful enough" to drive events which could kill "billions."

"AI is certainly powerful enough to drive events that, you know, cause a billion deaths," Gates told NBC's Meet the Press. He further added, "There's never been a weapon as powerful as the combination of people with ill intent using the latest AI tools."

Gates' remarks come after Anthropic co-founder Dario Amodei and OpenAI boss Sam Altman themselves flagged risks related to AI, including "loss of human control". The statements received support from several entrepreneurs, including Elon Musk.

However, US Presid...