Legislation aimed at banning the development of superintelligent artificial intelligence has been introduced in the U.S. Congress, mirroring efforts in the United Kingdom and signaling a growing concern among lawmakers about the potential risks posed by increasingly powerful AI systems.
The U.S. bill seeks to prohibit the creation of AI systems deemed capable of disempowering state authorities. It also aims to empower the government to monitor and restrict AI systems that may be precursors to superintelligence. This legislative push is accompanied by a push for a global treaty to ban the development of superintelligent AI worldwide.
Andrea Miotti, founder of the campaign group ControlAI, which consulted on the U.S. bill and wrote the U.K. legislation, emphasized the international nature of the challenge. "A national bill does not solve the international problem where superintelligence can be developed somewhere else," Miotti stated. "The only way to address that is via international agreements between countries."
Concerns about the potential dangers of advanced AI were voiced recently by Stuart Russell, a professor of computer science at the University of California, Berkeley. Speaking at an event in Westminster ahead of the U.K. bill's introduction, Russell warned of the possibility of "Chernobyl-sized catastrophe" stemming from AI. He described potential scenarios such as coordinated sabotage of critical infrastructure, including financial systems, communication networks, or electrical grids, which could result in millions of deaths and widespread economic collapse.
Alex Sobel, a British lawmaker, introduced a bill in the House of Commons that he described as the first of its kind in a G7 parliament to ban superintelligence. The U.K. bill defines superintelligent AI similarly, as a system that could disempower state authorities, and proposes granting the state new powers to oversee and limit systems that might be precursors to such advanced AI.
The legislative actions in both countries highlight a global debate concerning the rapid advancement of AI technology and the need for regulatory frameworks to manage its potential existential risks.