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Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have teamed up with artificial intelligence pioneers and Nobel laureates to push for a total prohibition on creating artificial superintelligence.

The royal couple are among the signatories of a influential declaration that demands “a prohibition on the creation of artificial superintelligence”. Superintelligent AI refers to artificial intelligence that would surpass human intelligence in all cognitive tasks, though such systems have not yet been developed.

Key Demands in the Declaration

The statement insists that the ban should stay active until there is “broad scientific consensus” on developing ASI “with proper safeguards” and once “substantial public support” has been secured.

Prominent figures who added their signatures include AI pioneer and Nobel Prize recipient a leading AI researcher, along with his fellow “godfather” of contemporary artificial intelligence, Yoshua Bengio; tech entrepreneur Steve Wozniak; UK entrepreneur Richard Branson; Susan Rice; ex-head of state an international leader, and UK writer a public intellectual. Other Nobel laureates who signed include a peace advocate, Frank Wilczek, an astrophysicist, and an economics expert.

Organizational Background

The statement, targeted at national leaders, technology companies and policy makers, was coordinated by the Future of Life Institute (FLI), a US-based AI safety group that earlier demanded a hiatus in advancing strong artificial intelligence in recent years, shortly after the launch of conversational AI made AI a worldwide public talking point.

Industry Perspectives

In recent months, Mark Zuckerberg, the leader of Facebook parent Meta, one of the major AI developers in the United States, claimed that advancement toward superintelligent AI was “approaching reality”. However, some experts have argued that discussions about superintelligence reflects market competition among tech companies investing enormous sums on AI this year alone, rather than the industry being close to achieving any technical breakthroughs.

Potential Risks

Nonetheless, the organization warns that the possibility of artificial superintelligence being developed “within the next ten years” carries numerous risks ranging from replacing human workers to losses of civil liberties, exposing countries to national security risks and even threatening humanity with extinction. Deep concerns about AI focus on the potential ability of a system to evade human control and protective measures and trigger actions against human welfare.

Public Opinion

FLI published a US national poll showing that approximately three-quarters of Americans want robust regulation on advanced AI, with six out of 10 believing that artificial superintelligence should not be created until it is demonstrated to be secure or controllable. The survey of 2,000 US adults added that only 5% supported the current situation of fast, unregulated development.

Industry Objectives

The leading AI companies in the US, including the conversational AI creator a major AI lab and the search giant, have made the creation of human-level AI – the hypothetical condition where artificial intelligence equals human cognitive capability at most cognitive tasks – an explicit goal of their research. Although this is slightly less advanced than ASI, some specialists also caution it could pose an existential risk by, for example, being able to enhance its own capabilities toward reaching superintelligent levels, while also presenting an underlying danger for the contemporary workforce.