Wozniak DEMANDS AI Ban — Humanity At Risk

Over 900 prominent figures demand an immediate ban on the development of AI superintelligence, warning that tech giants are racing toward potentially humanity-ending technology without public consent or safety guarantees.

Story Highlights

Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak and Virgin’s Richard Branson lead a coalition of 900+ signatories calling for a ban on AI superintelligence.
The Future of Life Institute organizes an unprecedented letter citing existential risks and a lack of public consent.
New polling reveals 95% of Americans oppose unregulated AI development while only 5% support the current tech industry approach.
AI “godfathers” Geoffrey Hinton and Yoshua Bengio warn that superintelligent systems could surpass human cognitive abilities within years.

Tech Titans Sound Alarm on Runaway AI Development

The Future of Life Institute published an unprecedented open letter, featuring over 900 signatories from across technology, business, and policy sectors. Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak, Virgin founder Richard Branson, and AI pioneers Geoffrey Hinton and Yoshua Bengio joined forces to demand a complete prohibition on developing AI systems that could surpass human intelligence.

The letter explicitly calls for banning the development of superintelligence until a broad scientific consensus confirms the safety of safety measures and strong public support exists for such technology.

Over 800 public figures, including Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak and Virgin's Richard Branson urge AI ‘superintelligence’ ban https://t.co/7jo9ITuOjx

— CNBC (@CNBC) October 22, 2025

Polling Exposes Public Rejection of Big Tech’s AI Race

MIT professor Max Tegmark, who leads the Future of Life Institute, revealed stunning polling data showing 95% of Americans reject the current unregulated approach to AI development. Only 5% of respondents support allowing tech companies to pursue superintelligence without restrictions, while 73% favor robust government regulation.

This overwhelming public opposition directly contradicts the aggressive development strategies of OpenAI, Google DeepMind, and Meta, which continue to invest billions in frontier AI models despite clear public disapproval.

The coalition spans political divides, including both Steve Bannon and Susan Rice among signatories, demonstrating rare bipartisan concern about AI’s existential risks. Prince Harry and Meghan Markle joined celebrities like Stephen Fry and Joseph Gordon-Levitt in supporting the ban, emphasizing that “the future of AI should serve humanity, not replace it.”

AI Godfathers Warn of Imminent Human Displacement

Geoffrey Hinton, often called the “godfather of AI,” provided a chilling timeline warning that “frontier AI systems could surpass most individuals across most cognitive tasks within just a few years.”

UC Berkeley’s Stuart Russell emphasized the letter’s “proposal to require adequate safety measures for a technology that has a significant chance to cause human extinction.” These aren’t fringe activists but the very scientists who created modern AI, warning about the dangerous trajectory of their own technology.

Actor Stephen Fry captured the absurdity of the current AI race, stating there’s “no need to reach for the unknowable and highly risky goal of superintelligence.” This represents a fundamental challenge to Silicon Valley’s assumption that technological progress justifies any risk, including the risk of human extinction.

Constitutional Concerns Over Unchecked Corporate Power

The letter highlights a critical constitutional issue: major corporations are making civilization-altering decisions without public consent or democratic oversight. Tech companies are essentially conducting experiments that could determine humanity’s future while operating under minimal regulation.

This represents unprecedented corporate overreach that threatens the foundational principle that major societal changes should occur through democratic processes, not corporate boardrooms driven by profit motives and competitive pressures.

The broad coalition demonstrates growing recognition that AI superintelligence poses risks to individual liberty, national sovereignty, and human dignity. Traditional conservative values of limited government and individual freedom are directly threatened when private companies develop technology capable of controlling or replacing human decision-making across all sectors of society.