# Bill Gates warns of “a lot of negative surprises” from AI-enabled cyberattacks over the next year > On CNN on 11 October 2026, Bill Gates said cyberattacks are where AI’s dangers will show most in the next year, and that models can be used with safeguards removed. FireAI Security & Research Team (HisnLabs) · Published 2026-10-18 Canonical: https://hisnlabs.com/en/news/bill-gates-cnn-ai-cyberattacks-negative-surprises-next-year In an interview with Jake Tapper on CNN’s State of the Union, broadcast on 11 October 2026, Bill Gates said that cyberattacks are the area where the dangers of artificial intelligence will probably show most clearly over the next year [[1]](https://transcripts.cnn.com/show/sotu/date/2026-10-11/segment/01). “When you have bad people, no safeguards, and then the latest models”, he said, “over the next year, primarily in the cyber area, we are going to have a lot of negative surprises” [[2]](https://www.foxnews.com/media/bill-gates-sounds-alarm-ai-powered-cyberattacks-warns-negative-surprises-within-year) [[1]](https://transcripts.cnn.com/show/sotu/date/2026-10-11/segment/01). ## Background Tapper asked how soon a “nightmare scenario” could happen. Gates answered that “the front that we will probably see most dramatically in the next year is cyberattacks”, adding that it is “really bad people using AI” in a setting where the safeguards can be taken out, and that “right now, you’re allowed to take all those safeguards out” [[1]](https://transcripts.cnn.com/show/sotu/date/2026-10-11/segment/01). The transcript shows him separating this from the loss-of-control scenario that dominates much public debate. ## What the sources report Asked whether the world is doing enough to prevent such harms, Gates replied: “Well, no, we’re not doing enough” [[1]](https://transcripts.cnn.com/show/sotu/date/2026-10-11/segment/01). On the more distant risk he said: “The real danger right now is not that AI is getting out of control. We need to work on that, but that’s years away” [[1]](https://transcripts.cnn.com/show/sotu/date/2026-10-11/segment/01). Fox News reports that Gates named disruption of financial systems, extortion of businesses, stock market manipulation and betting schemes as ways criminals could use the newest models, and describes extortion as a known business model [[2]](https://www.foxnews.com/media/bill-gates-sounds-alarm-ai-powered-cyberattacks-warns-negative-surprises-within-year). The transcript passages we read state the cyber warning but do not list those examples, so they are attributed here to Fox News’s account of the interview. > Many attacks that use stolen data end with something on the Mac reaching out to a server the attacker controls. FireAI, the on-device firewall for macOS developed by HisnLabs, asks before a newly installed app connects to the internet. A 17-day trial is available. [Download FireAI for Mac](https://hisnlabs.com/fireai/en/download) ## Implications for Mac users Gates’s statement is a forecast, not a report of an incident, and it does not say which attacks to expect or which systems they will target. What it describes is a change in who can attempt them: a person who could not write convincing messages, code or scripts before can now ask a model to do part of that work, and a model whose safeguards have been removed will not refuse. For an ordinary Mac user the practical effect is more attempts that look polished, not a new kind of weakness in the Mac. HisnLabs’ view, and it is a view rather than a finding of the interview, is that an attack that uses AI is best met by a defence that also uses AI and runs on the device, where the attacker’s tools cannot reach it, next to the basic habits listed below. ## Recommendations 1. Keep macOS and apps updated, since most intrusions still use flaws that already have a fix. 2. Use passkeys or an authenticator app instead of codes sent by text where a service offers them. 3. Treat polished messages, voices and sites as unverified until the sender is confirmed through a channel you found yourself. 4. Keep a recent backup that is not permanently connected to the Mac. 5. Install software only from its official source, and review which apps are allowed to connect out. ## Relevance to FireAI AI-powered attacks call for AI-powered defence, and FireAI is built on that idea for the Mac. It is a firewall for outgoing connections that asks the user before an app that has not connected before reaches the internet. Its on-device AI model, Gemma running through Apple’s MLX, turns plain-language orders such as “block this app” into a rule that the user approves, and the order never leaves the Mac. The AI does not decide what is malicious: FireAI does not detect AI-written messages, stop an attack from being attempted, or remove a threat already present, and it is one layer, not a guarantee. > Against attackers who use AI, defend with AI that stays on your side of the screen. FireAI, the on-device AI firewall for macOS, shows which app wants to connect and where, and waits for your decision. It runs on the Mac and does not send your activity anywhere. A 17-day trial is available. [Download FireAI for Mac](https://hisnlabs.com/fireai/en/download) ## Limitations The interview is the only primary source used here, and it contains an opinion and a forecast, not evidence of a specific attack. Fox News also cites a security vendor’s annual threat report for figures on AI-enabled attacks; we did not open that report and give none of its figures [[2]](https://www.foxnews.com/media/bill-gates-sounds-alarm-ai-powered-cyberattacks-warns-negative-surprises-within-year). The timeframe of “the next year” is Gates’s own and is not a measured prediction. Try [FireAI, by HisnLabs](https://hisnlabs.com/fireai/en/download) free for 17 days. ## Sources - [CNN, State of the Union transcript, 11 October 2026: Interview with Microsoft founder Bill Gates](https://transcripts.cnn.com/show/sotu/date/2026-10-11/segment/01) - [Fox News, 11 October 2026: Bill Gates warns AI could unleash cyberattacks within next year: ‘Negative surprises’](https://www.foxnews.com/media/bill-gates-sounds-alarm-ai-powered-cyberattacks-warns-negative-surprises-within-year)