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Prince Harry has joined evangelical Christian leaders, famous actors, musicians, and prominent conservative commentators in a new plea to ban the development of AI superintelligence. The diverse group of signatories also includes leading computer scientists, who warn that advanced artificial intelligence systems being developed by tech firms like Google, Meta and OpenAI pose a threat to humanity’s future. Organised by the Future of Life Institute, a non-profit AI safety group once funded by Elon Musk, the statement calls for a prohibition on the development of superintelligence until two conditions are met. The first is a “broad scientific consensus that it will be done safely and controllably”, and the second is that there is “strong public buy-in”. Notable figures to sign the latest statement include Donald Trump’s former political strategist Steve Bannon, musicians Will.I.am and Kate Bush, actor and broadcaster Stephen Fry, and British billionaire Sir Richard Branson. “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,” FLI said. “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.” In a personal note, Prince Harry added: “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.” It is not the first time that public figures have attempted to halt the development of new artificial intelligence. In March 2023, tech leaders, including Mr Musk and Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak, signed an open letter – also organised by Future of Life Institute – that warned of “out-of-control” AI systems. That same month, Mr Musk founded his own artificial intelligence firm called xAI, aiming to rival ChatGPT creator OpenAI in its goal of developing human-level AI. Another high-profile statement was released in May 2023, this time by the Center for AI Safety, which claimed that regulators and lawmakers should take the “severe risks” of advanced AI more seriously. “Mitigating the risk of extinction from AI should be a global priority alongside other societal-scale risks such as pandemics and nuclear war,” read the statement, which was co-signed by Google DeepMind and OpenAI chief executives Demis Hassabis and Sam Altman. There is yet to be a pause on AI development, and the broad range of signatories in the latest statement is designed to appeal to people outside of the AI research community. “In the past, it’s mostly been the nerds versus the nerds,” said Max Tegmark, president of the Future of Life Institute and a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. “I feel what we’re really seeing here is how the criticism has gone very mainstream.”
