Hundreds of public figures, including Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak and Virgin's Richard Branson urge AI ‘superintelligence’ ban

A group of prominent figures, including artificial intelligence and technology experts, has called for an end to efforts to create 'superintelligence' — a form of AI that would surpass humans on essentially all cognitive tasks.

Over 850 people, including tech leaders like Virgin Group founder Richard Branson and Apple cofounder Steve Wozniak, signed a statement published Wednesday calling for a pause in the development of superintelligence.

The list of signatories was notably topped by prominent AI pioneers, including the computer scientists Yoshua Bengio and Geoff Hinton, who are widely considered "godfathers" of modern AI. Leading AI researchers like UC Berkeley's Stuart Russell also signed on.

Superintelligence has become a buzzword in the AI world, as companies from Elon Musk's xAI to Sam Altman's OpenAI compete to release more advanced large language models. Meta notably has gone so far as to name its LLM division the 'Meta Superintelligence Labs.'

But signatories of the recent statement warn that 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."

It called for a ban on developing superintelligence until there is strong public support and a broad scientific consensus that it can be built safely and kept under control.

In addition to AI and tech figures, the names behind the statement came from a broad coalition ranging from academics, media personalities, religious leaders and a bipartisan group of former U.S. politicians and officials.

Those retired officials included former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mike Mullen and former National Security Advisor Susan Rice.

Meanwhile, Steve Bannon and Glen Beck — influential media allies to U.S. President Donald Trump — were also prominently featured on the list.

Other high-profile signatories included the British royal family members Prince Harry and his wife Meghan Markle. As of Wednesday, the list was still growing.