This is what the Future of Life Institute is spreading::
 The Future of Life Institute invites you to sign a 1-sentence statement on superintelligence that just launched today, with remarkably broad support! Theywanted you to have the opportunity to join as an early signatory.The letter has already made headlines around the world, and we want you to be a part of it!Sign the statementFinancial Times | Steve Bannon and Meghan Markle among 800 public figures calling for AI ‘superintelligence’ banBloomberg | Prince Harry, Geoffrey Hinton Call for Ban on AI SuperintelligenceAxios | AI leaders push to pause superintelligenceThe Guardian | Harry and Meghan join AI pioneers in call for ban on superintelligent systemsTIME | ‘Time Is Running Out’: New Open Letter Calls for Ban on Superintelligent AI DevelopmentThe Conversation | AI heavyweights call for end to ‘superintelligence’ researchCNBC | Hundreds of public figures, including Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak and Virgin’s Richard Branson urge AI ‘superintelligence’ ban📹 Fox & Friends [VIDEO] | Tech leaders urge ban on superintelligence: ‘We’re not heading in a good direction’Plus plenty in Brazil, India, and more…A bit more about the statement: AI tools may bring unprecedented health and prosperity. However, alongside tools, many leading AI companies have the stated goal of building superintelligence in the coming decade that can significantly outperform all humans on essentially all cognitive tasks. This has raised concerns, ranging from human economic obsolescence and disempowerment, losses of freedom, civil liberties, dignity, and control, to national security risks and even potential human extinction. It will be terrific if you can join us, because it will help create common knowledge of the growing number of people who oppose a premature rush to human disempowerment (as opposed to new helpful and controllable and AI tools). Many thanks!Sign the statementProf. Max Tegmark President, Future of Life Institute Institute for Artificial Intelligence & Fundamental Interactions Center for Brains, Minds and Machines Department of Physics Massachusetts Institute of TechnologyFLI is a 501c(3) non-profit organisation, meaning donations are tax exempt in the United States. If you need our organisation number (EIN) for your tax return, it’s 47-1052538. FLI is registered in the EU Transparency Register. Our ID number is 787064543128-10. |
| Sent to: ahoyos@faculty.ie.edu Future of Life Institute , 933 Montgomery Avenue, #1012, Narberth, Pennsylvania 19072, United States Adriana Hoyos Professor of AI Economics, Digital Ecosystems & Geopolitics +34.628822112 ahoyos@faculty.ie.edu www.linkedin.com/in/adrianahoyos1https://www.ie.edu/insights/authors/adriana-hoyos/ |
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22,426 signaturesSign statement
Including 19,220 from the same petition by Ekō
Statement on Superintelligence
Context: Innovative AI tools may bring unprecedented health and prosperity. However, alongside tools, many leading AI companies have the stated goal of building superintelligence in the coming decade that can significantly outperform all humans on essentially all cognitive tasks. This has raised concerns, ranging from human economic obsolescence and disempowerment, losses of freedom, civil liberties, dignity, and control, to national security risks and even potential human extinction. The succinct statement below aims to create common knowledge of the growing number of experts and public figures who oppose a rush to superintelligence.
For corrections, technical support, or press enquiries, please contact letters@futureoflife.org
Statement
We call for a prohibition on the development of superintelligence, not lifted before there is
- broad scientific consensus that it will be done safely and controllably, and
- strong public buy-in.
All (3,206)Faith LeaderPolicymakerArts & MediaResearcherBusinessNon-profit
Geoffrey Hinton
Emeritus Professor of Computer Science, University of Toronto, Nobel Laureate, Turing Laureate, world’s 2nd most cited scientist
Yoshua Bengio
Professor of Computer Science, U. Montreal/Mila, Turing Laureate, world’s most cited scientist
“Frontier AI systems could surpass most individuals across most cognitive tasks within just a few years. These advances could unlock solutions to major global challenges, but they also carry significant risks. To safely advance toward superintelligence, we must scientifically determine how to design AI systems that are fundamentally incapable of harming people, whether through misalignment or malicious use. We also need to make sure the public has a much stronger say in decisions that will shape our collective future.”
Stuart Russell
Professor of Computer Science, Berkeley, Director of the Center for Human-Compatible Artificial Intelligence (CHAI); Co-author of the standard textbook ‘Artificial Intelligence: a Modern Approach’
“This is not a ban or even a moratorium in the usual sense. It’s simply a proposal to require adequate safety measures for a technology that, according to its developers, has a significant chance to cause human extinction. Is that too much to ask?”
Steve Wozniak
Co-founder of Apple
Sir Richard Branson
Founder, Virgin Group
Steve Bannon
Fmr Executive Chairman of Breitbart News; fmr chief strategist to President Donald Trump; Host of War Room podcast
Glenn Beck
Founder of Blaze media, radio host, TV personality, political commentator
Susan Rice
Fmr U.S. National Security Advisor under President Obama; U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations; Rhodes Scholar
Mike Mullen
U.S. Navy Admiral (ret), Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff under Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama
Joe Crowley
Former Congressman (D) representing New York and House Democratic Caucus Chair
Key polling results on Superintelligence
- 5%U.S. adults are in support of the status quo of fast, unregulated development
- 64%believe superhuman AI shouldn’t be made until proven safe or controllable, or should never be made
- 73%want robust regulation on advanced AI
Comments from signatories (Click to expand)
Previous slideNext slide
Brian Higgins
Former Congressman (D) representing New York
Steve Israel
Former Congressman (D) representing New York
Keith Rothfus
Former Congressman (R) representing Pennsylvania
Ed Perlmutter
Former Congressman (D) representing Colorado
John Yarmuth
Former Congressman (D) representing Kentucky
Mary Robinson
Fmr President of Ireland; Fmr UN High Commissioner for Human Rights
“AI offers extraordinary promise to advance human rights, tackle inequality, and protect our planet, but the pursuit of superintelligence threatens to undermine the very foundations of our common humanity. We must act with both ambition and responsibility by choosing the path of human-centred AI that serves dignity and justice.”
Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex
Co- Founder, The Archewell Foundation
“The future of AI should serve humanity, not replace it. The true test of progress will be not how fast we move, but how wisely we steer.”
Meghan, Duchess of Sussex
Co- Founder, The Archewell Foundation
Mark Beall
Fmr Director of AI Strategy and Policy, Department of Defense
“When AI researchers warn of extinction and tech leaders build doomsday bunkers, prudence demands we listen. Superintelligence without proper safeguards could be the ultimate expression of human hubris—power without moral restraint.”
Desmond Browne, Lord Browne of Ladyton
Fmr UK Defence Minister, Member of the UK House of Lords
Public statements by non-signatories (Click to expand)
Previous slideNext slide
Andre Hoffman
Vice-chair, Roche, Co-Chair, World Economic Forum
Jon Wolfsthal
Fmr Special Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs
“The discussion over AGI should not be cast as a struggle between so called doomers and optimists. AGI presents a common challenge for all of humanity. We must to ensure we control technology and it does not control us. Until and unless developers and their funders know that a technology with the capacity to be smarter, faster, stronger and just as lethal as humanity cannot escape human control, it must not be unleashed. Ensuring we can enjoy the benefits of AI and AGI requires us to be responsible in its development.”
Christine Rosen
Senior Fellow, American Enterprise Institute
Andrew Yao (姚期智)
Professor & Dean, Tsinghua University, Turing Laureate
Paolo Benanti
Papal AI advisor, Catholic priest, Professor at Pontifical Gregorian University
Johnnie Moore
President, Congress of Christian Leaders, White House evangelical adviser, emeritus Professor at Liberty University
“We should rapidly develop powerful AI tools that help cure diseases and solve practical problems, but not autonomous smarter-than-human machines that nobody knows how to control. Creating superintelligent machines is not only unacceptably dangerous and immoral, but also completely unnecessary.”
Walter Kim
President, National Association of Evangelicals, board member, Christianity Today
“If we race to build superintelligence without clear and morally informed parameters, we risk undermining the incredible potential AI has to alleviate suffering and enable flourishing. We should intentionally harness this amazing technology to help people, not rush to build machines and mechanisms we cannot control.”
Anthony J. Granado
Associate General Secretary, US Conference of Catholic Bishops
Kelly (Monroe) Kullberg
General Secretary, American Association of Evangelicals (AAE), Founder, the Veritas Forum, Author, Finding God at Harvard
Timothy W. Estes
CEO and Founder, AngelQ, Fmr. CEO and Founder, Digital Reasoning. Board member – Mission Link Next
Nnenna Nwakanma
Global AI Ambassador, Chief Web Advocate, Swiss Cognitive, HealthAI, SheShapesAI, World’s Most 100 Influential People in Digital Government; Athena40Women Tech for Good; 100 Most Influential Africans of 2021
Yuval Noah Harari
Author and Professor, Hebrew University of Jerusalem
“Superintelligence would likely break the very operating system of human civilization – and is completely unnecessary. If we instead focus on building controllable AI tools to help real people today, we can far more reliably and safely realize AI’s incredible benefits.”
Daron Acemoğlu
Institute Professor, MIT, Nobel Laureate in Economics, MIT Institute Professor
Ya-Qin Zhang (张亚勤)
Chair Professor & Dean, Institute for AI Industry Research, Tsinghua University, fmr President, Baidu
John Mather
Nobel Laureate in Physics, senior astrophysicist at NASA, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
Frank Wilczek
Nobel Laureate in physics, Professor of Physics, MIT, ASU, Stockholm U
Beatrice Fihn
Nobel Laureate (Peace Prize), fmr Executive Director of ICAN
Brando Benifei
Member of the European Parliament, AI Act Rapporteur
Martin Rees
Professor, Cambridge University, Co-founder of CSER, Astronomer Royal, member House of Lords
Michael McNamara
Member of the European Parliament
Markéta Gregorová
Member of the European Parliament, Member of the AI Act working group
Jonathan Berry, Viscount Camrose
Fmr UK Minister for AI and Intellectual Property, Member of the UK House of Lords
Leslie Griffiths, Lord Griffiths of Burry Port
Fmr Labour Party whip in the House of Lords, Member of the UK House of Lords, fmr President of the Methodist Conference
Ben Lake
Member of the UK House of Commons
Alex Sobel
Member of the UK House of Commons
Nicholas Fairfax
Lord Fairfax of Cameron, Member of the House of Lords
Philip Hunt, Lord Hunt of Kings Heath OBE
Fmr UK Minister of State for Energy, Member of the UK House of Lords
James Knight, Lord Knight of Weymouth
Member of the UK House of Lords
Paul Strasburger, Lord Strasburger
Member of the UK House of Lords
Beeban Kidron, Baroness Kidron OBE
Member of the UK House of Lords
Joseph Gordon-Levitt
Actor, Filmmaker, Founder, HITRECORD
“Yeah, we want specific AI tools that can help cure diseases, strengthen national security, etc. But does AI also need to imitate humans, groom our kids, turn us all into slop junkies and make zillions of dollars serving ads? Most people don’t want that. But that’s what these big tech companies mean when they talk about building ‘Superintelligence’.”
Sir Stephen Fry
Actor, director, writer
“To get the most from what AI has to offer mankind, there is simply no need to reach for the unknowable and highly risky goal of superintelligence, which is by far a frontier too far. By definition this would result in a power that we could neither understand nor control.”
Will.I.am
Rapper, singer, producer, actor
Yi Zeng (曾毅)
Professor & Dean, Beijing Institute of AI Safety and Governance, TIME 100 AI
Valerie Pisano
President & CEO, Mila
Jimena Viveros
Legal advisor, Mexico’s Supreme Court, member of UN High-Level Advisory Body on AI
Devan Patel
Senior Advisor on Public Policy and Ethics, American Security Fund
Jaan Tallinn
Co-Founder, Skype & Future of Life Institute
Vincent Conitzer
Professor, Carnegie Mellon University and University of Oxford, Author, “Moral AI And How We Get There”; ACM Fellow, AAAI Fellow, Sloan Fellow, Guggenheim Fellow
Moshe Y. Vardi
Professor of Computational Engineering, Rice University, Member: US National Academy of Engineering and National Academy of Sciences
Sharon Li
Associate Professor of Computer Science, University of Wisconsin Madison
Freda Shi
Assistant Professor of Computer Science, Univ. Waterloo
Lan Xue (薛澜)
Dean, Schwarzman College, Tsinghua University, TIME 100 AI
Pierre Baldi
Distinguished Professor of Computer Science, University of California, Irvine, Dennis Gabor Award
Kate Bush
Musician
Adam Oberman
Professor & Canada CIFAR AI Chair, Dept of Mathematics and Statistics, McGill University/Mila/LawZero
Dylan Hadfield-Menell
Assistant Professor, Faculty of Artificial Intelligence and Decision-Making, MIT, AI2050 Early Career Fellow
Max Tegmark
Professor of Physics, Center for AI & Fundamental Interactions, MIT, President, FLI; Time 100 AI
Anthony Aguirre
Executive Director, Future of Life Institute, Professor of Physics, UC Santa Cruz
Meia Chita-Tegmark
Co-founder, Future of Life Institute
Victoria Krakovna
Co-founder of FLI, AI safety researcher
Dan Hendrycks
Executive Director, Center for AI Safety
Tristan Harris
Executive Director, Center for Humane Technology, filmmaker (the Social Dilemma)
Nate Soares
President, Machine Intelligence Research Institute
“The race to superintelligence is suicidal. Progress shouldn’t be subjected to a public veto, but technologists also shouldn’t flirt with annihilation. Scientific consensus alone is not enough (any more than alchemist consensus in the year 1100 would be enough to guarantee a potion of immortality). The science of making a superintelligence beneficial is nowhere near mature. There’s time pressure and reality may demand bold action from cognizant leaders (without public buy-in), but the public is right to object to the race and right to be wary of technologist consensus in this case.”
Malo Bourgon
CEO, Machine Intelligence Research Institute
Connor Leahy
Co-founder and CEO, Conjecture
Andrea Miotti
Founder and CEO, ControlAI
Mark Nitzberg
Interim Executive Director, International Association for Safe and Ethical AI
Charbel-Raphaël Segerie
Executive Director, Centre pour la Sécurité de l’IA (CeSIA)
Jeffrey Ladish
Executive Director, Palisade Research
David Krueger
Asst. Professor in Machine Learning, Univ. Montreal
Qian Tao
Assistant Professor, TU Delft, Director, Knowledge-Driven AI lab
Gabriel Alfour
Co-founder and CTO, Conjecture
Tegan Maharaj
Assistant Professor in Machine Learning, Mila
Grimes
Artist
Zvi Mowshowitz
Don’t Worry About the Vase
Anqi Liu
Asst. Professor of Computer Science, Johns Hopkins University
George Church
Professor, Harvard Medical School & MIT
Clark Barrett
Professor of Computer Science, Stanford
Olle Häggström
Professor of Mathematical Statistics, Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden
Sally Shrapnel
Associate Professor/Deputy Director, ARC Centre of Excellence for Engineered Quantum Systems, University of Queensland
Peter Vamplew
Professor, Information Technology, Federation University Australia
Zoran Kalinic
University Professor, University of Kragujevac, Member of SAIS and AAAI
José Hernández-Orallo
Professor of AI, Univ. of Valencia
The Anh Han
Professor of Computer Science, Teesside University
Roman V Yampolskiy
Associate Professor, University of Louisville, Author of “AI: Unexplainable, Unpredictable, Uncontrollable”
Daniel Kokotajlo
Executive Director, AI Futures Project, fmr OpenAI researcher; TIME 100 AI
Xerxes Dotiwalla
Google DeepMind
Fabien Roger
Member of Technical Staff, Anthropic
Tao Lin
Member of Technical Staff, Anthropic
Casey Williams
Industry Liaison Officer, The University of Kansas, Red Team member at OpenAI
Leo Gao
Member of Technical Staff, OpenAI
Juan Felipe Ceron Uribe
Research Engineer, OpenAI
Micah Carroll
Member of Technical Staff, OpenAI
Gabriel Wu
Member of Technical Staff, OpenAI
Ramana Kumar
Former Research Scientist, Google DeepMind
Nisan Stiennon
fmr Member of Technical Staff, OpenAI
Jeremy Schlatter
Research Engineer, Palisade Research, former Member of Technical Staff at OpenAI
Sören Mindermann
Scientific Lead, International AI Safety Report
Federico L.G. Faroldi
Professor, Director, Center for Reasoning, Normativity and AI, University of Pavia
Andrew T. Walker
Associate Professor of Christian Ethics and Public Theology, The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary
Riccardo Luna
Columnist & Writer, Corriere della Sera, fmr Italian Digital Champion
Very Rev. Olamilekan Kolade Fadahunsi
Director, Institute of Church & Society, Ibadan, Commissioner, Churches Commission on International Affairs, World Council of Churches, Christian Council of Nigeria/World Council of Churches
Lesmore G Ezekiel
Director, All Africa Conference of Churches
Dr Chinmay Pandya
Chairperson, SAIPR, All World Gayatri Pariwar, India, Bharat Gaurav Awardee, Juror of Templeton Prize, Recipient of VIR Peace Award
Fr. Michael Baggot
Associate Professor of Bioethics, Pontifical Athenaeum Regina Apostolorum
Mwesigwa Fred Sheldon
Bishop, Ankole Diocese, Associate Professor
Thomas Tut
Moderator, South Sudan Presbyterian Evangelical Church
Chris Scammell
CEO, Buddhism & AI Initiative
Brian Green
Director of Technology Ethics, Markkula Center for Applied Ethics, Santa Clara University
Kiranjot Kaur
Member, SGPC a Sikh religious organisation, Published papers, articles on Sikh issues. Interfaith speaker.
Michael Wear
President and CEO, Center for Christianity and Public Life
Karl Hans Bläsius
Professor of Computer Science, Trier University of Applied Sciences
Joe Allen
Tech editor at War Room
“If superintelligence is achievable and the public buys in, then I’m out.”
Ipke Wachsmuth
Emeritus Professor of Artificial Intelligence, Bielefeld University
Karina Vold
Assistant Professor, University of Toronto
Paul Salmon
Professor, Co-Director of the Centre for Human Factors and Sociotechnical Systems, University of the Sunshine Coast, Fellow of the Queensland Academy of Arts and Sciences, Member of the Australian Research Council College of Experts
Michael Noetel
Senior Lecturer, The University of Queensland
Steve Petersen
Associate Professor of Philosophy, Niagara University
Vincent Fortuin
Principal Investigator in Machine Learning, TU Munich
Samuel Buteau
Fmr Senior AI Safety Researcher, Mila
“Barring an international agreement, humanity will quite likely not have the ability to build safe superintelligence by the time the first superintelligence is built. Therefore, pursuing superintelligence at this stage is quite likely to cause the permanent disempowerment or extinction of humanity. I support an international agreement to ensure that superintelligence is not built before it can be done safely.”
Dan Braun
Member of Technical Staff, Goodfire AI
Oliver E Richardson
Postdoctoral Fellow, Université de Montréal, Mila
Einar Urdshals
Research Scientist, Timaeus
Matthias Georg Mayer
Research Fellow, PIBBSS
Vojtech Kovarik
Postdoctoral Researcher, Czech Technical University
Cole Wyeth
PhD Student, University of Waterloo
Steven Byrnes
Research Fellow, Astera Institute
Vanessa Kosoy
Director of AI Research, The Association for Long Term Existence & Resilience (ALTER)
Puria Radmard
Co-director, Geodesic Research
Kaarel Hänni
Research Scientist, Mila
“If we allow the pursuit of AGI to continue, the human era will end, humans and human institutions will probably be rendered insignificant and powerless, and plausibly simply extinct.”
David Williams-King
Research Visitor, Mila
Jasmina Urdshals
AI Safety Researcher
Abram Demski
Researcher, AFFINE, fmr MIRI researcher
Lucius Bushnaq
Member of Technical Staff, Goodfire AI
Jeremy Gillen
fmr MIRI researcher
Max Harms
Researcher, MIRI
Felix Harder
Independent Researcher
Nolan Smyth
Postdoctoral Researcher, Université de Montréal, Mila
Linh Le
Postdoctoral Researcher, McGill University
Eduard Habsburg
Diplomat
Tsvi Benson-Tilsen
fmr MIRI researcher
“Humanity does not currently have the technical understanding required to built superhuman AI without the AI killing everyone, and that technical research is going far more slowly than research toward building unsafe superhuman AI. So, efforts to build superhuman AI should be stopped through laws, international treaties, social norms, professional rules, and by providing alternatives ways to gain the benefits that would supposedly come from making superhuman AI.”
Mateusz Bagiński
Independent Researcher
“Attempting to build systems more cognitively capable than humans without having an adequate understanding of how they work is an insane endeavor. Barring a mature and adequate understanding of cognition, we cannot ensure that they will have robustly good effects. Rather, it will mark a grim end of humanity. We do not know when someone might succeed in building it, but even if we have decades, figuring out and implementing the coordination mechanisms required to remove the possibility of building superintelligence is going to take time. Therefore, the time to act is Now.”
Mikhail Samin
Executive Director, AI Governance and Safety Institute
Simon Skade
AI Alignment Researcher, Independent
Charles Steiner
AI Safety Researcher
Johannes C. Mayer
Independent Researcher
Luke McNally
Senior Lecturer, University of Edinburgh
Cameron Tice
Co-Director, Geodesic Research, Marshall Scholar
Matthew Crawford
Senior Fellow, Institute for Advanced Studies in Culture, NYT best selling author
Alex Altair
AI Safety Researcher & Founder, Dovetail Research, fmr MIRI fellow
Thomas Cunningham
AI Economist, METR
Robert Miles
Independent Science Communicator
Philip Lee
CEO, World Association for Christian Communication, DD honoris causa
Jonathan Engel
Distinguished Professor of Physics and Astronomy, University of North Carolina
Yevgeny Liokumovich
Associate Professor, University of Toronto
Jordan Crandall
Professor, University of California, San Diego
Gerry Tsoukalas
Associate Professor, Boston University, Thinkers50 Radar 2025, Senior Fellow at the Wharton School
Klaus Bernhard Bærentsen
Associate Professor Emeritus, Department of Psychology, University of Aarhus
Sol Bermann
Adjunct Clinical Assistant Professor, School of Information, University of Michigan
Arthur E Wilmarth Jr
Professor Emeritus of Law, George Washington University, Member, Int’l Advisory Bd., Journal of Banking Regulation
Frank Stajano
Professor of Security and Privacy, University of Cambridge
Larry Lessig
Roy L. Furman Professor of Law and Leadership, Harvard Law School
Audrey Tang
Senior Fellow, Institute for Ethics in AI, University of Oxford
Dr. Fadi Salem
Director of Policy Research Dept., Mohammed Bin Rashid School of Government in the UAE
Michael James Carey
Distinguished Professor (Emeritus) of Computer Science, University of California, Irvine, Member, National Academy of Engineering
Alistair Knott
Professor of AI, Victoria University of Wellington, Co-founder of the Centre for AI and Public Policy
Dino Pedreschi
Professor of Computer Science, University of Pisa, Director of Human-centered AI Next Gen EU project
Tom Gray
Visiting Professor of AI and Innovation, Ulster University, Cofounder of Software NI, Founder of AICon, former Group CTO of Kainos
Russ Vince
Emeritus Professor, University of Bath
Matt MacDermott
AI Safety Researcher, LawZero
Fabio Morandín Ahuerma
Research Professor in Philosophy of Artificial Intelligence, Benemérita Universidad Autónoma de Puebla
Timothy Kircher
Hege Professor of History, Guilford College
Daniel Volk
Assistant Professor, Deggendorf Institute of Technology
Piotr Bańbuła
Associate Professor, Warsaw School
Jorge Marques da Silva
Professor of Plant Biology, University of Lisbon
Frank Kappe
Professor, Institute of Human-Centred Computing, Graz University of Technology
Miguel Pizaña
Professor, Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana, SNI 2 (National System of Researchers, level 2)
Nicola Bellotto
Associate Professor, University of Padua, Dept. of Information Engineering
Simon S Riley
Research Director, Shore
Akbar Sayeed
Professor emeritus, UW-Madison; Independent Researcher & Consultant, AMS 360
Dario Weissmann
Assistent Professor of Mathematics, Impan
Torbjörn Lundh
Professor, Chalmers University of Technology, President of Unitech International
Michal Pechoucek
Professor, Czech Technical University in Prague, Founder/Director of CTU AI Center, Investor in AI Security with Evolution Equity Partners
Ole-Morten Midtgård
Professor, Norwegian University of Science and Technology
Ingmar de Vries
Assistant Professor Cognitive Neuroscience, University of Trento
Fisseha Mekuria
Chief Scientist-CSIR & Asst. Professor, Malmö University/Dept of DVMT, Recipient of the Innovation Award National Science & Technology Agency-South Africa
Eric Santanen
Professor of Information Systems, Bucknell University
Łukasz Święcicki
Assistant Professor, University of Siedlce
Lamberto Coccioli
Professor of Music and Technology, Birmingham City University, Director of the CreaTech Frontiers creative industries cluster
📣 Join these people, show your support!
3,206signaturesSign statement
Hosted by Future of Life Institute
This is what ChatGPT thought.
We asked ChatGPT, the artificial intelligence company from Sam Altman’s OpenAI, in which Microsoft has invested billions of dollars, for his opinion.
He told us:
Do you want me to do a full analysis—for example:
- whether the approach is more technophobic, ethical, or forward-looking,
- what arguments are missing or could be strengthened,
- how it compares to current debates about superintelligence and algorithmic control,
and whether the article is analytically sound or more speculative.
Do you want me to do that kind of analysis?
We said yes, and this is what he said:
Excellent, thanks for copying it. I’ll give you a comprehensive critical analysis divided into five axes: epistemological, political, economic, ethical, and forward-looking.
🧠 1. Epistemological Axis — What the text assumes as “scientific truth”
The declaration starts from a strong and speculative assumption: that within a decade, “superintelligence” could surpass humans in almost all cognitive tasks.
- This claim is not scientifically proven. No current AI architecture exhibits consciousness, intentions, or general autonomy.
- The statement confuses cognitive performance with general intelligence — two very different things. Current models are predictive, not intentional.
- It also lacks a clear definition of “safety”: does it mean technical safety, ethical safety, legal control, or existential risk prevention?
In short, its foundation is more precautionary and visionary than empirical.
⚖️ 2. Political Axis — Who speaks and why
The list of signatories mixes scientific authorities (Hinton, Bengio, Russell) with media and political figures (Rice, Bannon, the Sussexes, etc.).
- This suggests a broad but fear-driven coalition, not a coherent scientific consensus.
- The appeal to a “scientific consensus” before continuing development is a political tool for moratorium, not a realistic scientific condition.
- It reflects a shift from governance to symbolic regulation by moral pressure, typical of transitional technological moments.
💰 3. Economic Axis — Who benefits if AI development is halted
Despite its ethical tone, the declaration hides an economic and geopolitical struggle within digital capitalism:
- Strict regulation benefits established tech giants who can afford compliance, while small labs and Global South countries are left behind.
- Thus, the moratorium serves as a protective barrier for those already dominant in AI research.
- It’s as much about power redistribution as about ethics.
⚙️ 4. Ethical Axis — Between precaution and moral panic
The declaration invokes universal values (“dignity,” “freedom,” “justice”) but provides no concrete framework for achieving them.
- Ethically, it relies on the precautionary principle — don’t proceed until safety is proven.
- However, it borders on technopanic and moral paternalism by framing AI as an autonomous threat rather than a human creation under governance.
- It also neglects current ethical challenges such as algorithmic bias, surveillance, and job displacement, in favor of hypothetical apocalyptic risks.
🔮 5. Prospective Axis — Likely consequences and scenarios
If applied literally, the proposal could lead to:
- Technological paralysis in democratic nations while rivals advance.
- Epistemic inequality, concentrating AI knowledge in a few hands.
- Displacement of real debates — from practical governance to metaphysical fear of extinction.
🧩 Overall Assessment
- Strengths: Raises awareness, legitimizes public concern, and calls for shared responsibility.
- Weaknesses: Conceptual vagueness, elitist bias, lack of technical roadmap, and apocalyptic tone.
- Balance: More of a moral and political signal than a scientific strategy — valuable for provoking reflection, but insufficient for governance.