Comment by The FLI Team

The view that “mitigating the risk of extinction from AI should be a global priority alongside other societal-scale risks such as pandemics and nuclear war” is now mainstream, with that statement being endorsed by a who’s who of AI experts and thought leaders from industry, academia, and beyond. Although FLI did not develop this statement, we strongly support it, and believe the progress in regulating nuclear technology and synthetic biology is instructive for mitigating AI risk. FLI therefore recommends immediate action to implement the following recommendations. Akin to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and the Biological Weapons Convention (BWC), develop and institute international agreements to limit particularly high-risk AI proliferation and mitigate the risks of advanced AI, including track 1 diplomatic engagements between nations leading AI development, and significant contributions from non-proliferating nations that unduly bear risks of technology being developed elsewhere. Develop intergovernmental organizations, akin to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), to promote peaceful uses of AI while mitigating risk and ensuring guardrails are enforced. The success of these actions is neither impossible nor unprecedented: the last decades have seen successful projects at the national and international levels to avert major risks presented by nuclear technology and synthetic biology, all without stifling the innovative spirit and progress of academia and industry. Unverified source (2023)