An unusual coalition of academics, businesses, religious leaders and political figures have raised their concerns about artificial intelligence by signing a new “pro-human” declaration.
Backed by the Future of Life Institute, a leading nonprofit AI safety organisation, the Pro-Human AI Declaration calls for a renewed focus on AI safety and stricter regulation and accountability for the companies controlling it.
Signatories include billionaire entrepreneur Richard Branson, Nobel-Prize-winning economist Daron Acemoglu, and former adviser to the Trump administration Steve Bannon.
Organisations backing the declaration include the American Federation of Teachers, the Congress of Christian Leaders, and the Progressive Democrats of America.
“Artificial intelligence should serve humanity, not the reverse,” the declaration states.
“There is a better path, where trustworthy and controllable AI tools amplify rather than diminish human potential, empower people, enhance human dignity, protect individual liberty, strengthen families and communities, preserve self-governance and hep create unprecedented health and prosperity.
“This path demands that those who wield technological power be accountable to human values and needs, in support of human flourishing.”
Key tenets of the declaration include: human control over AI; prevention of AI monopolies; protection of children from the technology; preservation of human agency and liberty; and corporate accountability for defects and inadequate safety controls.
A new poll published in parallel with the declaration found that 80 per cent of US voters supported keeping humans in charge of AI, as well as greater accountability for AI companies.
Organisers of the Pro-Human AI Declaration deliberately excluded industry representatives, who have previously been involved in similar petitions for improved AI safety.
Previous efforts to enforce AI safety from the Future of Life Institute have included an attempt in 2023 to introduce a six-month moratorium on the development of AI systems, as well as a petition last year to ban the development of superintelligent AI systems until safety is proven.
Neither effort was heeded by the tech industry, with some signatories of the 2023 letter going on to launch their own AI startups.
