The Growing Push to Ban Superintelligent AI

After a summer of cyberattacks sent AI rocketing up the political agenda, bills seeking to ban so-called superintelligent AI are gaining momentum on both sides of the Atlantic.Last week, Senator Bernie Sanders announced plans to introduce the Ban Artificial Superintelligence Act, which would prohibit the development of smarter-than-human AI systems and temporarily pause all other advanced AI research until new safety rules can be established. The bill is expected to be introduced in the coming weeks, according to Sanders’ office.And on Tuesday, British lawmaker Alex Sobel stood up in the House of Commons and introduced what he said was the first bill seeking to ban superintelligence in any G7 parliament. The bill defines superintelligent AI as a system that could disempower state authorities, and seeks to give the state new powers to monitor and restrict systems that may be “precursors” to superintelligence.Both the U.S. and U.K. bills additionally seek to compel each government to pursue a global treaty banning the development of superintelligent AI anywhere in the world. “A national bill does not solve the international problem where superintelligence can be developed somewhere e...