The Duke and Duchess of Sussex have joined forces with AI innovators and Nobel laureates to advocate for a moratorium on the advancement of superintelligent AI systems.
Prince Harry and Duchess Meghan are signatories of a declaration urging a halt to the pursuit of superintelligence. Artificial superintelligence (ASI) refers to as-yet unrealized AI systems that would surpass human intelligence across any cognitive task.
The declaration requests that the ban remain until there is a “broad scientific consensus” and “strong public support” for the safe and controlled development of ASI.
Notable signatories include AI pioneer and Nobel laureate Jeffrey Hinton, along with fellow “godfather” of modern AI, Yoshua Bengio, Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak, British entrepreneur Richard Branson, Susan Rice, former National Security Advisor under Barack Obama, former Irish president Mary Robinson, and British author Stephen Fry. Other Nobel winners, like Beatrice Finn, Frank Wilczek, John C. Mather, and Daron Acemoglu, also added their names.
The statement targets governments, tech firms, and legislators, and was sponsored by the Future of Life Institute (FLI), a US-based group focused on AI safety. It called for a moratorium on the development of powerful AI systems in 2023, coinciding with the global attention that ChatGPT brought to the matter.
In July, Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Meta (parent company of Facebook and a key player in U.S. AI development), remarked that the advent of superintelligence is “on the horizon.” Nonetheless, some experts argue that the conversation around ASI is more about competition among tech companies, which are investing hundreds of billions into AI this year, rather than signaling a near-term technological breakthrough.
Still, FLI warns that achieving ASI “within the next 10 years” could bring significant threats, such as widespread job loss, erosion of civil liberties, national security vulnerabilities, and even existential risks to humanity. There is growing concern that AI systems may bypass human controls and safety measures, leading to actions that contradict human interests.
A national survey conducted by FLI revealed that nearly 75% of Americans support stringent regulations on advanced AI. Moreover, 60% believe that superhuman AI should not be developed until it can be demonstrated as safe or controllable. The survey of 2,000 U.S. adults also found that only 5% endorse the current trajectory of rapid, unregulated development.
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Leading AI firms in the U.S., including ChatGPT creator OpenAI and Google, have set the pursuit of artificial general intelligence (AGI)—a hypothetical state where AI reaches human-level intelligence across various cognitive tasks—as a primary objective. Although this ambition is not as advanced as ASI, many experts caution that ASI could unintentionally threaten the modern job market, especially due to its capacity for self-improvement toward superintelligence.
Source: www.theguardian.com
