More than 800 prominent figures, including Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak and Virgin's Richard Branson, have signed a public statement demanding an immediate halt to superintelligence development. The unprecedented coalition warns that AI systems surpassing human intelligence pose risks from economic collapse to human extinction, directly challenging the race between OpenAI, Meta, and other tech giants to build increasingly powerful AI models.
The AI industry just hit a major inflection point. More than 800 of the world's most influential tech leaders, scientists, and public figures have essentially called timeout on the race to build superintelligence - AI systems that would surpass human cognitive abilities across all domains.
The public statement published Wednesday reads like a who's who of Silicon Valley royalty and AI research. Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak headlines the list alongside Virgin founder Richard Branson, but the real weight comes from AI's founding fathers. Yoshua Bengio and Geoffrey Hinton, widely considered the godfathers of modern AI, have put their names behind what amounts to an industry-wide brake pedal.
"The prospect of superintelligence has raised concerns, ranging from human economic obsolescence and disempowerment, losses of freedom, civil liberties, dignity, and control, to national security risks and even potential human extinction," the signatories warn in language that doesn't mince words.
This isn't just academic hand-wringing. The petition arrives as Meta literally rebranded its AI division as "Meta Superintelligence Labs," while OpenAI and Elon Musk's xAI are locked in an increasingly public race to achieve artificial general intelligence first. The timing feels deliberate - these industry veterans are watching the current trajectory and saying "not so fast."
The coalition spans far beyond Silicon Valley's usual suspects. Former National Security Advisor Susan Rice signed on, as did former Joint Chiefs Chairman Mike Mullen, signaling serious national security concerns. Even Meghan Markle appears on the list, alongside Trump allies Steve Bannon and Glenn Beck - a political unity that's rare these days.
UC Berkeley's Stuart Russell, a leading AI safety researcher who's been sounding alarms about superintelligence for years, helped organize the effort. According to his previous research, the challenge isn't whether we can build superintelligent systems, but whether we can control them once they exist.
