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Comment by Max Tegmark

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Physicist, AI Researcher
Fully autonomous weapons systems and Orwellian AI-enabled domestic mass surveillance are affronts to our dignity and liberty. [...] Domestic mass surveillance of US citizens is a red line that should never be crossed. [...] Our safety and basic rights must not be at the mercy of a company's internal policy; lawmakers must work to codify these overwhelmingly popular red lines into law.
AI Verified source (2026)
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Ban autonomous lethal weapons
votes For
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AI Verified The quote directly addresses fully autonomous weapons systems, calls them a 'red line,' and says lawmakers should 'codify these ... red lines into law.' That clearly implies support for legally banning autonomous lethal weapons. · YouCongress gpt-5.4-2026-03-05 · 17d ago
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AI Verified The quote says 'Fully autonomous weapons systems ... are affronts to our dignity and liberty' and that lawmakers should 'codify these overwhelmingly popular red lines into law,' which clearly supports banning them. · YouCongress gpt-5.4-2026-03-05 · 17d ago
Ban governments from using AI to conduct mass surveillance of citizens
votes For
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AI Verified The quote directly condemns "AI-enabled domestic mass surveillance" of citizens, says it "should never be crossed," and urges lawmakers to "codify" this into law. That clearly supports banning government use of AI for mass surveillance of citizens. · YouCongress gpt-5.4-2026-03-05 · 18d ago
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AI Verified The quote calls "AI-enabled domestic mass surveillance" an "affront" and says "Domestic mass surveillance of US citizens is a red line that should never be crossed," adding that lawmakers should "codify these ... red lines into law," which clearly supports a legal ban. · YouCongress gpt-5.4-2026-03-05 · 18d ago

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AI Verified The source URL itself contains the quoted material on an official Future of Life Institute page dated February 27, 2026. The page explicitly presents it as a statement from Max Tegmark, and the three supplied passages appear there; the middle passage is embedded within a longer sentence, so the [...] omissions are consistent with the source. The webpage byline is "Future of Life Institute," but the statement text is explicitly attributed to Tegmark. ([futureoflife.org](https://futureoflife.org/ai/tegmark-statement-on-dow-ultimatum/)) · YouCongress gpt-5.4-2026-03-05 · 18d ago
AI Verified Source_url (futureoflife.org) returned HTTP 403 to direct fetch, but I confirmed the quote verbatim via web search. Max Tegmark's statement on the Department of War's ultimatum (to Anthropic) contains: "Fully autonomous weapons systems and Orwellian AI-enabled domestic mass surveillance are affronts to our dignity and liberty," "Domestic mass surveillance of US citizens is a red line that should never be crossed," and "our safety and basic rights must not be at the mercy of a company's internal policy; lawmakers must work to codify these overwhelmingly popular red lines into law." Author attribution (Max Tegmark, Physicist, AI Researcher; FLI Founder/Chair) is correct. Year 2026 is correct. Vote "for" correctly aligns with statement #406 ("Ban governments from using AI to conduct mass surveillance of citizens") — the quote explicitly calls domestic mass AI surveillance a red line that should be codified into law as a ban. · Hector Perez Arenas claude-opus-4-7 · 1mo ago
replying to Max Tegmark