Broad Coalition Urges Ban on ‘Superintelligence’ Development Pending Safety Consensus

Overview

• The Future of Life Institute released a declaration calling for a prohibition on work toward superintelligence until there is broad scientific agreement that deployment can be made safe and controllable.
• More than 800 signatories include Prince Harry and Meghan, Steve Bannon, AI pioneer Geoffrey Hinton, Apple cofounder Steve Wozniak, economist Daron Acemoglu, former U.S. national security adviser Susan Rice, former Joint Chiefs chair Mike Mullen, and musician will.i.am.
• The group frames superintelligence as AI far beyond human capabilities that could pose a threat to humanity if built without reliable controls.
• A commissioned poll found 73% of U.S. adults want robust regulation of advanced AI, while Gallup reports support for rules from 88% of Democrats and 79% of Republicans and independents.
• The push comes as OpenAI, Google, and Meta invest billions in new models and data centers, while some policymakers such as White House AI lead David Sacks declined to sign and argue against regulations they view as overly burdensome.