Clip of Bill Gates discussing water shortages and ‘mass mortality event’ is a deepfake

A video shared thousands of times on Facebook appears to show Bill Gates speaking on CNBC news, warning that billions of people could die due to water shortages.

But the audio in the clip is fake. It was made using artificial intelligence (AI), using footage from an CNBC interview with Mr Gates from October 2025. The screen caption was also edited to make it look like Mr Gates was discussing water shortages, which weren’t mentioned in the original interview.

One Facebook post shared the video with overlaid text reading “BILL GATES SAYS 1 BILLION PEOPLE WILL DIE BY 2027”. In the edited clip, Mr Gates appears to be saying “water shortages could be the biggest mass mortality event the world has ever seen—I’m talking billions of people dying. The only way we ensure people remain safe is by being invested in the United States Water Reserve”.

But Mr Gates did not say this. In the original interview, the screen caption read “Bill Gates on AI Bubble”, and he spoke about AI—describing it as “the biggest technical thing ever” in his lifetime—and did not mention water shortages, though did speak briefly about the locations of data centres and associated electricity costs.

The clip was likely made using a voice clone of Mr Gates and a lip syncing tool, similar to other deepfakes of Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg we’ve recently debunked.

Bill Gates has previously spoken about the potential dangers of AI and separately, scarcer access to safe drinking water.

We’ve come across a number of recent deepfakes apparently showing a prominent tech figure warning about water shortages and promoting a crypto asset called the United States Water Reserve or World Water Reserve.

Before sharing content like this online, it’s important to consider whether it is real or not. Our Full Fact toolkit can help you to spot AI-generated audio, images and deepfake videos.