95% of Americans Agree on Something for Once: Don't Let AI Companies Build a Superintelligence

In a country that can't agree on anything, 95% of Americans just agreed on something huge: they don't want companies racing to build a superintelligent AI without any rules.

That jaw-dropping number comes from new polling cited by MIT physicist Max Tegmark, who helped organize the "Pro-Human Declaration," a document signed by hundreds of experts, former officials, and public figures that was just published this week.

The declaration doesn't mince words. It says humanity is standing at a fork in the road. One path leads to humans being replaced, first as workers, then as decision-makers, while power piles up with a handful of unaccountable tech companies and their machines. The other path leads to AI that actually helps people.

Their demands are bold: a complete ban on building superintelligent AI until scientists can prove it's safe. Mandatory kill switches on all powerful AI systems. And a total prohibition on any AI that can copy itself, improve itself without human approval, or resist being turned off.

This comes right on the heels of Washington's messy breakup with Anthropic, where the Pentagon designated the AI company as a "supply chain risk." As TechCrunch put it, the collision of these two events wasn't lost on anyone involved.

"There's something quite remarkable that has happened in America just in the last four months," Tegmark said.

As reported by TechCrunch.

Source: TechCrunch