Overview

• More than 200 figures, including 10 Nobel laureates, launched the effort at the UN General Assembly, with Nobel Peace laureate Maria Ressa introducing it.
• Signers urge governments to reach a binding international accord by the end of 2026 that defines prohibited uses such as AI control of nuclear weapons, lethal autonomous weapons, self‑replication, undisclosed impersonation and mass surveillance.
• The organizers call for three pillars in any agreement: a clear list of prohibitions, robust auditable verification and an independent body to oversee implementation.
• Prominent researchers including Geoffrey Hinton, Yoshua Bengio, Wojciech Zaremba and Ian Goodfellow signed, while notable absences include OpenAI’s Sam Altman and Google DeepMind’s Demis Hassabis.
• The appeal follows concerns that voluntary pledges fall short and arrives as industry accelerates development, with NVIDIA and OpenAI announcing plans for a large new computing buildout.