“Mitigating the risk of extinction from AI should be a global priority alongside other societal-scale risks such as pandemics and nuclear war.”

It sounds like sci-fi, but the people who invented AI are warning it could one day WIPE OUT the human race! Why? Because even they can’t always predict how it will respond or what decisions it will take.

And even if this never happens, unchecked AI has ALREADY ruined lives: in the Netherlands, AI mistook parents from ethnic minorities as child benefit fraudsters, resulting in hundreds of kids being torn from their mums and dads wrongfully.

This is horrifying — but we don’t have to sit back and accept this dystopian future. Experts are urging governments to protect citizens from this technology with specific new laws – but governments aren’t acting fast enough! A massive roar of voices calling on our leaders to put humans first and regulate AI could make all the difference.

Sign the open letter to governments below, and Avaaz will team up with top experts to deliver it to governments to shape new laws, before it’s too late!

Without laws to protect us, we’re risking everything. Act now, while there is still time.

But AI isn’t all bad – it could also supercharge our fight against disease, and help us respond to global challenges. Either way, the cat is out of the bag – now we need urgent protections to steer AI towards doing good, not harm, to society.

Avaaz has the scale, contacts and global reach to make a massive difference here. When enough of us sign the open letter, we’ll deliver it, alongside top policy recommendations developed together with experts, to governments all over the world. But first we need voices from people everywhere. Add your name to demand protection from AI – and then share with everyone you know!

With hope and determination,

Bert, Fadi, Sarah, Marco, Lily, Joana and the whole team at Avaaz

• Top AI researchers and CEOs warn against ‘risk of extinction’ in 22-word statement (The Verge)
• AI Is as Risky as Pandemics and Nuclear War, Top CEOs Say, Urging Global Cooperation (Time)
• Dutch scandal serves as a warning for Europe over risks of using algorithms (Politico)
  
• Statement from the listed authors of Stochastic Parrots on the “AI pause” letter (DAIR Institute)