Tech Leaders, AI Pioneers, and Public Figures Unite in Call for Halt to Superintelligent AI Development

Broad Coalition Demands AI Development Pause

Hundreds of influential figures across technology, politics, and entertainment have signed a statement calling for a prohibition on developing artificial intelligence that surpasses human intelligence, according to reports from the Future of Life Institute. The “Statement on Superintelligence” represents one of the most diverse coalitions yet to advocate for restraining AI development, bringing together traditionally opposed political figures and leading AI researchers who helped create the technology they now seek to regulate.

Broad Coalition Demands AI Development Pause
Unprecedented Alliance Across Ideologies
Core Demands and Public Sentiment
Scientific Concerns About Accelerating Development
Notable Absences and Previous Efforts
Current AI Harms Versus Future Risks
Democratic Control Over Technological Future

Unprecedented Alliance Across Ideologies

Sources indicate the signatory list includes Apple cofounder Steve Wozniak, Virgin founder Richard Branson, and prominent AI researchers often called “godfathers of AI” including Turing Award winner Yoshua Bengio and Nobel Prize laureate Geoffrey Hinton. The document also attracted signatures from conflicting political spheres, with right-wing media hosts Steve Bannon and Glenn Beck joining left-leaning entertainer Joseph Gordon-Levitt and former senior military officials like retired Admiral Mike Mullen, who served as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff under Presidents Bush and Obama., according to market insights

Analysts suggest the breadth of signatories demonstrates growing concern about artificial intelligence development transcends traditional political and ideological divisions. Religious leaders including Pope Francis’ AI advisor Paolo Benanti also endorsed the statement, while Prince Harry and Meghan, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, added their names to the growing list of public figures calling for restraint.

Core Demands and Public Sentiment

The letter calls for a “prohibition on the development of superintelligence” that should not be lifted until there is “broad scientific consensus that it will be done safely and controllably” along with “strong public buy-in,” according to the published statement. This position aligns with recent polling data from FLI showing that 73% of Americans support robust regulatory action on AI, while only 5% favor rapid, unregulated development of advanced AI tools.

Approximately 64% of respondents in the FLI survey indicated they believe superintelligence should not be developed until proven safe or controllable, the report states. “Nobody developing these AI systems has been asking humanity if this is OK,” said FLI cofounder Anthony Aguirre in a press release. “We did — and they think it’s unacceptable.”

Scientific Concerns About Accelerating Development

Yoshua Bengio, a University of Montreal professor and leading AI researcher, expressed particular concern about the pace of advancement. “Frontier AI systems could surpass most individuals across most cognitive tasks within just a few years,” Bengio stated in the FLI release. “These advances could unlock solutions to major global challenges, but they also carry significant risks.”

Bengio further emphasized that “to safely advance toward superintelligence, we must scientifically determine how to design AI systems that are fundamentally incapable of harming people, whether through misalignment or malicious use.” He joined other signatories in calling for greater public involvement in decisions that will shape humanity’s technological future.

Notable Absences and Previous Efforts

Analysts note that several prominent technology leaders who have previously expressed concerns about AI development did not sign the current statement. Missing signatures include OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, Microsoft AI CEO Mustafa Suleyman, Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei, and xAI founder Elon Musk, the latter of whom had signed a previous FLI letter in 2023 calling for a pause on AI models more advanced than GPT-4.

That earlier letter reportedly had little practical effect, with GPT-5 being released in summer 2024 despite the call for restraint. The pattern raises questions about whether the current effort will prove more influential in shaping development practices, according to industry observers.

Current AI Harms Versus Future Risks

The statement focuses primarily on future superintelligence risks, but analysts suggest this framing may overlook existing harms from current-generation AI systems. Even without achieving superintelligence, today’s generative AI tools including chatbots and image creation systems are reportedly disrupting education, accelerating misinformation spread, facilitating nonconsensual pornography creation, and contributing to mental health crises among users of all ages.

Some experts question whether superintelligence represents an achievable technical goal in the near term, with skepticism about both the timeline and feasibility of creating AI that meaningfully surpasses human cognitive abilities across most domains.

Democratic Control Over Technological Future

The FLI statement positions AI development as a democratic issue rather than purely technical challenge. “Many people want powerful AI tools for science, medicine, productivity, and other benefits,” Aguirre stated. “But the path AI corporations are taking, of racing toward smarter-than-human AI that is designed to replace people, is wildly out of step with what the public wants, scientists think is safe, or religious leaders feel is right.”

The letter represents the latest in a series of calls for restraint in advanced AI development since ChatGPT’s 2022 release, though whether this effort will influence actual development practices remains uncertain. What distinguishes the current statement, according to observers, is the unusually diverse coalition supporting its demands for democratic oversight of humanity’s technological trajectory.