Global Coalition Including Prince Harry, Geoffrey Hinton Urges Ban on AI Superintelligence Development

A broad coalition of scientists, public figures, and celebrities, including Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, are urging a pause on the development of artificial superintelligence until it can be proven safe and controllable. The call, led by the Future of Life Institute, highlights concerns that unchecked AI advancement could lead to systems outperforming humans in nearly every cognitive task, raising risks such as economic disruption, loss of freedoms, national security threats, and even human extinction. Signatories include AI pioneers like Geoffrey Hinton and Yoshua Bengio, business leaders such as Richard Branson and Steve Wozniak, and diverse political figures. The coalition argues for a prohibition on superintelligence development until there is broad scientific consensus and strong public support for its safety measures. Public opinion polls show a majority of Americans favor robust regulations on advanced AI and oppose unregulated AI development. The movement also involves concerns about AI’s impact on creativity, misinformation, and copyright protections, with many voices warning against loosening regulations for AI training on copyrighted works.