AI scientists, celebrities and global figures demand ban on superintelligence

LONDON: In a rare alliance, public figures including Steve Bannon, Meghan Markle, Stephen Fry, and Prince Harry have joined scientists, politicians, and faith leaders in calling for a global prohibition on developing “superintelligent” artificial intelligence (AI) systems.

More than 800 signatories — among them AI pioneers Geoffrey Hinton and Yoshua Bengio, former Irish president Mary Robinson, and tech leaders such as Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak and Virgin’s Richard Branson — have endorsed a statement urging a halt to AI systems that could surpass human intelligence.

“We call for a prohibition on the development of superintelligence — not lifted until there is broad scientific consensus that it can be done safely and controllably, with strong public support,” the statement read.

The declaration was issued by the Future of Life Institute (FLI), a non-profit organisation advocating for safe AI development. A recent FLI poll found that nearly three-quarters of Americans favour strong AI regulation, while only 5 per cent support unregulated progress.

FLI president Max Tegmark said growing awareness has united diverse voices across nations and industries. “More and more people are starting to think that the biggest threat isn’t the other company or even the other country — but maybe the machines we are building,” he said.

Tech giants including OpenAI, Google, and Meta are in a race to develop advanced AI models capable of outperforming humans on most tasks.

Tegmark clarified that the new statement does not call for a pause in all AI research, but only in the creation of systems that could surpass human control. “You don’t need superintelligence to cure cancer or build self-driving cars,” he said.

Several Chinese scientists, including Andrew Yao and Ya-Qin Zhang, have also signed the declaration, along with former US officials Susan Rice and Admiral Mike Mullen.

Experts say the statement highlights mounting global concern over the unchecked race toward artificial general intelligence as governments struggle to establish effective regulation.