Celebs, scientists, including Godfather of AI and Prince Harry, call for 'superintelligence' ban

Over 700 scientists, political figures, celebrities, and businesspeople, including Prince Harry, Richard Branson, and Steve Bannon, have called for a “prohibition on the development of AI superintelligence”. The initiative comes amid a raging debate on whether AI superintelligence can pose an existential threat to humanity.

Many AI experts have been pointing out that apart from upending the world's economic and social structures, artificial superintelligence – digital beings with vastly superiorIQ than the smartest human beings – could lead to the extermination of humans.

Experts say that superintelligent beings could prove to be more devastating than nuclear weapons, as they would be able to decide on their own the fate of humanity, whereas nuclear bombs can't go off on their own.

Who signed the open letter against superintelligence

An open letter publishedby the Future of Life Institute, a US-based NGO that campaigns against the dangers of AI, reads: "The initiative calls for a prohibition on the development of superintelligence until the technology is reliably safe and controllable, and has public buy-in".

"Godfather of AI" Geoffrey Hinton, who received the Nobel Prize in Physics, is among the signatories to the letter. Over the past few years, he has emerged as the most prominent and credible voice against artificial intelligence.

Computer Science Professor at the University of California in Berkeley, Stuart Russell, and the world's most-cited AI scientist, Yoshua Bengio, of the University of Montreal, have also signed the letter.

A raft of other public figures have signed: Virgin Group founder Richard Branson, Apple cofounder Steve Wozniak, US President Donald Trump's former adviser Steve Bannon, and former president Barack Obama's national security adviser, Susan Rice.

The Vatican's AI expert, Paolo Benanti, and celebrities such as Prince Harry and his wife, Meghan, have also signed the open letter.

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, whose company created ChatGPT, says that superintelligence can be achieved within the next five years.

Future of Life Institute President Max Tegmark told AFP that private firms should not aim for superintelligence without a regulatory framework. He said the race toward smarter-than-human AI that is designed to replace people is wildly out of step with what the public wants, what scientists think is safe, or what religious leaders feel is right.

The open letter calls for governments to reach an international agreement by the end of 2026, illustrating the red lines of AI research.