Overview
- The open letter calls for prohibiting superintelligence development until there is broad scientific consensus that it can be done safely and controllably and strong public buy-in.
- More than 700 signatories span AI pioneers and public figures, including Geoffrey Hinton, Yoshua Bengio, Steve Wozniak, Richard Branson, Steve Bannon, and the Duke and Duchess of Sussex.
- Organizers say the appeal targets companies such as OpenAI, Google, and Meta that are pursuing systems intended to outperform humans across essentially all cognitive tasks.
- Polling released with the statement found 64% of Americans want to wait until superintelligence is provably safe and controllable, while 5% favor developing it as quickly as possible.
- The effort follows FLI’s 2023 pause campaign that did not change industry behavior, with leaders now pushing public pressure and potential regulation, including talk of international agreements.