Statement on Superintelligence
In plain wordsA 2025 public statement, signed by scientists, celebrities and politicians, calling for a ban on building superintelligent AI until it is shown to be safe and the public supports it.
A one-sentence public statement urging a ban on developing superintelligencesuperintelligence, n.: A mind, usually imagined as an AI, that would leave even the cleverest people far behind in nearly every kind of thinking, not just in one game or skill. None is known to exist., to stay in force until scientists broadly agree that it can be built safely and kept under control and the public firmly backs going ahead. Unlike the 2023 Pause Giant AI ExperimentsPause Giant AI Experiments, prop. n.: A 2023 open letter, signed by tens of thousands of people including prominent technologists, that asked AI labs to halt the training of any AI more capable than GPT-4 for at least half a year. letter, it targets a capability level rather than calling for a time-limited pause, and unlike the Statement on AI RiskStatement on AI Risk, prop. n.: A one-sentence public statement from May 2023, signed by hundreds of leading AI scientists and company heads, declaring that guarding against the chance of AI wiping out humanity should rank as a priority for the whole world. it proposes a concrete policy. Its initial signatories spanned AI pioneers such as Geoffrey Hinton and Yoshua Bengio, business leaders, religious figures, entertainers and politicians from across the US political spectrum; as of October 2026 the statement's website listed more than 77,000 signatures.
She signed the Statement on Superintelligence but still works on narrow medical AI.
Origin
Organized by the Future of Life InstituteFuture of Life Institute, prop. n.: An advocacy group that warns about the dangers of advanced AI and other powerful technologies, funds research and lobbies governments. It organized the 2023 open letter calling for a pause on giant AI experiments. and released on 22 October 2025, alongside US polling that the institute said showed majority support for withholding superintelligence until it is proven safe and controllable.
Usage note
Debate has centered on whether a prohibition tied to a vaguely defined capability level could be specified, verified and enforced internationally.
Related
- AI pauseAI pause, n.: A proposed halt, temporary or indefinite, on building AI systems more powerful than today's, to give safety research and regulation time to catch up.
- Pause Giant AI ExperimentsPause Giant AI Experiments, prop. n.: A 2023 open letter, signed by tens of thousands of people including prominent technologists, that asked AI labs to halt the training of any AI more capable than GPT-4 for at least half a year.
- Statement on AI RiskStatement on AI Risk, prop. n.: A one-sentence public statement from May 2023, signed by hundreds of leading AI scientists and company heads, declaring that guarding against the chance of AI wiping out humanity should rank as a priority for the whole world.
- Future of Life InstituteFuture of Life Institute, prop. n.: An advocacy group that warns about the dangers of advanced AI and other powerful technologies, funds research and lobbies governments. It organized the 2023 open letter calling for a pause on giant AI experiments.
- superintelligencesuperintelligence, n.: A mind, usually imagined as an AI, that would leave even the cleverest people far behind in nearly every kind of thinking, not just in one game or skill. None is known to exist.
- AI red linesAI red lines, n.: Limits on AI that would be forbidden worldwide no matter what — for example AI that copies itself without permission or controls nuclear weapons — which campaigners want governments to agree on.
Sources
- Future of Life Institute (2025). Statement on Superintelligence. superintelligence-statement.org
Mentioned in
superintelligencesuperintelligence, n.: A mind, usually imagined as an AI, that would leave even the cleverest people far behind in nearly every kind of thinking, not just in one game or skill. None is known to exist., AI pauseAI pause, n.: A proposed halt, temporary or indefinite, on building AI systems more powerful than today's, to give safety research and regulation time to catch up., Future of Life InstituteFuture of Life Institute, prop. n.: An advocacy group that warns about the dangers of advanced AI and other powerful technologies, funds research and lobbies governments. It organized the 2023 open letter calling for a pause on giant AI experiments., Max TegmarkMax Tegmark, prop. n.: A Swedish-American physicist at MIT who co-founded the Future of Life Institute, which organized the 2023 open letter calling for a pause in training the most powerful AI systems.