In an unexpected alliance, more than 800 public figures—including politicians, celebrities, AI experts, and religious leaders—have signed a statement urging a global prohibition on the development of “superintelligence,” AI systems that could surpass human intelligence. The statement, published by the Future of Life Institute (FLI) on Wednesday, also features signatures from prominent figures such as Geoffrey Hinton, Yoshua Bengio, former Irish President Mary Robinson, and Prince Harry.
The coalition spans a diverse range of voices, from tech pioneers like Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak and Virgin founder Richard Branson, to faith leaders and former government officials including Susan Rice and Admiral Mike Mullen. Even Chinese AI luminaries Andrew Yao and Ya-Qin Zhang, former president of Baidu, are among the signatories.
“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,” the statement reads.
The FLI also released a survey indicating that only 5% of Americans support unregulated AI development, while nearly three-quarters favor robust regulation. Max Tegmark, president of the Institute, told the Financial Times: “It is our humanity that brings us all together here. 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.”
The statement does not call for a halt on general AI development. “You don’t need superintelligence for curing cancer, for self-driving cars, or to massively improve productivity and efficiency,” Tegmark added.
The move highlights the intensifying global debate around AI safety, as major technology firms including OpenAI, Meta, and Google compete to develop artificial general intelligence capable of outperforming humans across most tasks. Earlier, in March 2023, tech figures including Elon Musk signed a similar FLI statement calling for a six-month moratorium on AI development, though his company xAI continues to build AI systems.
Regulatory efforts remain uneven worldwide. The EU AI Act is being implemented gradually amid criticism from industry, while U.S. states such as California, Utah, and Texas have passed their own AI laws. A proposed 10-year federal moratorium on AI regulation was removed from the budget bill in July.
Tegmark stressed the urgency of global cooperation on the issue: “Loss of control is something that is viewed as a national security threat both by the West and in China. They will be against it for their own self-interests, so they don’t need to trust each other at all.”
