Create a global institute for AI, similar to CERN

Global safety coordination

Proponents say advanced AI needs an international scientific forum that sets shared testing standards, offers impartial analysis of capabilities and risks, and lets leading researchers jointly do the hardest safety work. Some explicitly envision such a body as the place to rigorously develop or contain very powerful systems in a way that benefits humanity.

• We need an international forum for discussion that establishes globally accepted standards for testing, provides expert and impartial analysis of capabilities and risks, and serves as a venue for cooperation among nations.

  Sam Altman · Jun 17, 2026 · full quote

• I would like to see a CERN for AI [...] where all the top scientists come together and see whether they can make a super intelligence. And, if they can, they contain it into a system where it can't just go out and persuade people to let it run the world.

  Tim Berners-Lee · 2026 · full quote

• Ideally this would stay in the hands of neutral international organizations (think of a combination of IAEA and CERN for AI) that develop safe and beneficial AI [...] safe superhuman AI

  Yoshua Bengio · 2023 · full quote

• I would advocate for a kind of CERN for AGI, and by that, I mean a kind of international research-focused high-end collaboration on the frontiers of AGI development to try and make that as safe as possible. You would also have to pair it with a kind of an institute like IAEA, to…

  Demis Hassabis · Apr 25, 2025 · full quote

• There’s a good argument that there should be a Cern for AI where governments collaborate to develop AI openly and robustly so we understand and trust the technology we are developing. That’s not going to happen if it’s developed behind closed doors. [AI] seems just as important a…

  Michael Wooldridge · Jun 11, 2025 · full quote

Shared compute and access

Supporters argue a CERN-like institute could pool compute, datasets, and funding at a scale individual labs or countries struggle to match. In their view, shared public infrastructure could widen access to advanced tools and let researchers and smaller firms participate, not just the largest companies.

• We recognise that advanced technologies inevitably raise national security concerns, however it is the responsibility of academies and governments to consider the interests of global humanity and the planet. Cooperation for peace and global security is necessary. We would support…

  S7 Academies · May 2025 · full quote

• The idea of just creating a bunch of big companies with venture capital behind them and they fight it out isn’t the only paradigm, [...] incent researchers to work together and you get quite naturally this idea of the CERN for AI, [...] Not because you going and build one Large H…

  Mark Surman · Feb 21, 2025 · full quote

• AI will improve our healthcare, spur our research and innovation and boost our competitiveness. We want AI to be a force for good and for growth. [...] This is why, together with our Member States and with our partners, we will mobilise unprecedented capital through InvestAI for …

  Ursula von der Leyen · 2025 · full quote

• A "distributed-CERN" reimagined for AI, networked across diverse States and regions, could expand opportunities for greater access to AI tools and expertise.

  United Nations High-Level Advisory Body on Artificial Intelligence · 2024 · full quote

• We call upon the global community, particularly the European Union, the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, and Australia, to collaborate on a monumental initiative: the establishment of an international, publicly funded, open-source supercomputing research facility. This…

  LAION · 2023 · full quote

Public-interest alternative

Another case is that AI should not be left mainly to closed competition among private actors with profits in mind. Advocates call for a publicly funded, democratically governed, public-interest institution that advances human-centered research and offers an alternative to private-sector dominance.

• We need to ensure that we do not let AI be controlled by private actors. [...] This idea of this CERN for AI… is an idea I think we should implement very quickly. Now is not the time to cut off research on research and data — it is the time to create more.

  Anne Bouverot · May 5, 2025 · full quote

• There is a need to develop alternatives that are publicly funded, driven by a public-interest mission, and overseen by democratically elected institutions. [...] By proposing a mission to build a “CERN for AI”, the LAION researchers argue that a strong role for the public secto…

  Alek Tarkowski · Apr 13, 2023 · full quote

• It’s a CERN or DARPA for AI. Many of the US’s biggest technological innovations in the 20th century came out of the research labs at firms like AT&T, Xerox, and IBM. But those firms still had profits in their sights, not societal goals. DARPA, however, funds research that’s cruci…

  Gideon Lichfield · 2025 · full quote

• The key is using data and AI, governed in a fair and democratic way, and deployed for democratic deliberation, not to increased clicks, polarising public opinions and monetizing users’ data. This is the opposite of the public interest. Europe needs a kind of “CERN” or “Manhattan…

  Francesca Bria · 2023 · full quote

• Yeah, I think we need multiple features and maybe not in the same place. I think a CERN is definitely something we need. I mean, I think we need to ensure that more of the development happens in a way that there is oversight over it and governments participate in it rather than j…

  Mark Brakel · 2023 · full quote

Talent and strategic capacity

Backers also present the institute as a way to concentrate fragmented talent, attract top researchers, and create a strong mission-driven environment outside major tech firms. Especially in European-facing quotes, it is linked to innovation, economic growth, technological sovereignty, and faster catch-up at the frontier.

• A CERN for AI needs strong talent clustering. Top researchers want to work with other top researchers. Unlike the talent concentration in Silicon Valley, European AI talent is more fragmented across hubs like Zurich, Paris, Berlin, and Barcelona. Speakers echoed calls from the C…

  Kevin Kohler · 2025 · full quote

• CERN for AI should be understood not just as an ambitious tech project, but a crucial step to secure Europe’s economic future, safeguard its security and geopolitical standing, and steer the trajectory of AI development towards more trustworthy and ethically aligned systems.

  Max Reddel · 2024 · full quote

• One possibility would be to establish a largescale research facility, a CERN for AI. That would hit the headlines everywhere and attract talent from all over the world. If you want to have global appeal, you need a beacon that is really big and bright.

  Holger Hoos · 2022 · full quote

• A CERN for AI will [...] drive innovation, economic growth, and ethical AI development.

  CAIRNE · Jan 13, 2026 · full quote

Distributed landscape preferred

Critics argue AI is unlike particle physics because it does not depend on one centralized, unique physical facility. They say a single hub could isolate research from the sectors, research communities, and citizens it should serve, and that networking and strengthening existing centers is a better fit.

• At ELLIS we believe that a strong AI research landscape distributed across various locations in Europe is essential for maintaining Europe’s sovereignty in this competitive field. AI research does not require access to centralized, expensive and unique physical facilities (known …

  European Laboratory for Learning and Intelligent Systems (ELLIS) · 2023 · full quote

• Ideas for a centralised approach in developing the European AI landscape run the risk of undermining the wider goals of the EU's AI strategy. While meeting no immediate need – AI research does not require access to centralised, expensive and unique physical facilities and infrast…

  European Laboratory for Learning and Intelligent Systems (ELLIS) · 2022 · full quote

• Through the different interactions we had with the scientific community, we thought the best way forward is to have networking of what exists in Europe and strengthening of what exists, instead of creating new infrastructures.

  Maria Cristina Russo · 2025 · full quote

• Currently, so many needs for innovation are put under the label of AI that there will be no way to address them with a single organisation.

  Daniela Diaconu · 2020 · full quote

Strengthen existing bodies

Some opponents prefer updating existing international frameworks or relying on existing safety networks rather than creating a new global AI agency or infrastructure. On this view, coordination should build on institutions already in place.

• I have attached my paper entitled ‘Global AI Governance and the United Nations: The UN Should Update Its Existing Institutional Framework Instead of Creating a Global AI Agency’.

  Ryan Nabil · 2023 · full quote

• Through the different interactions we had with the scientific community, we thought the best way forward is to have networking of what exists in Europe and strengthening of what exists, instead of creating new infrastructures.

  Maria Cristina Russo · 2025 · full quote

Centralization may worsen risk

One safety-focused objection is that putting frontier AI into a single tightly controlled international project does not solve the core alignment problem. In this view, a centralized 'CERN for AI' could still fail technically, and centralizing the work could make the consequences of failure even larger.

Feasibility and framing doubts

Others question whether the CERN analogy is workable at all, arguing that political tensions and conflicting values make genuine multinational collaboration unrealistic. Some also describe the proposal as rhetoric tied to speculative or weakly grounded fears rather than a concrete institutional answer.

• I spent a lot of years hoping that the collaboration would occur, and there are many people in our industry who think that the arrival and development of this new intelligence is so important, it should be done in a multinational way. It should be done in the equivalent of CERN, …

  Eric Schmidt · 2024 · full quote

• Eu não assinei essa carta por quatro razões. Primeiramente, é inútil, porque chega atrasada. [...] A segunda razão é que seus fundamentos parecem mais com o que eu considero ficção científica: ela usa como base uma descrição genérica do que seja a inteligência artificial dominand…

  Luciano Floridi · Jun 5, 2023 · full quote

• Talk of a Cern for AI is just rhetoric — don’t be fooled.

  Huw Roberts · Jun 21, 2023 · full quote

Distributed consortium design

Several favorable or undecided quotes say a 'CERN for AI' need not mean one giant campus. They describe a distributed, physically decentralized consortium or network that pools digital resources across regions while keeping international participation broad.

• A "distributed-CERN" reimagined for AI, networked across diverse States and regions, could expand opportunities for greater access to AI tools and expertise.

  United Nations High-Level Advisory Body on Artificial Intelligence · 2024 · full quote

• Yeah, sure. I think what we all saw with the use case over there is what is possible when people work together and when they are convened on purpose, right? And with a specific purpose in mind. It’s so important. And to formalize that around these resources that we do have in Swi…

  Mary-Anne Hartley · 2025 · full quote

• While the modalities of funding and mandate for this #AIforAll should be the subject of further deliberations, the proposed centre should ideally be funded by a mix of government funding and contributions from large companies pursuing AI (GAFAM, BATX etc.). Where should this cent…

  NITI Aayog · 2018 · full quote

• Yeah, I think we need multiple features and maybe not in the same place. I think a CERN is definitely something we need. I mean, I think we need to ensure that more of the development happens in a way that there is oversight over it and governments participate in it rather than j…

  Mark Brakel · 2023 · full quote

• In my (currently) preferred version of a CERN for AI, an initially small but steadily growing coalition of companies and countries would: * Collaborate on designing and building highly secure chips and datacenters; * Collaborate on accelerating AI safety research and enginee…

  Miles Brundage · 2024 · full quote

Paired oversight approach

Another nuanced position treats a CERN-like institute as only one part of a broader governance architecture. These quotes suggest starting with scientific coordination or a small coalition, then pairing the lab with reporting, monitoring, or auditing bodies rather than assuming the lab alone is sufficient.

• We must take the risks of AI as seriously as other major global challenges, like climate change. It took the international community too long to coordinate an effective global response to this, and we’re living with the consequences of that now. We can’t afford the same delay wit…

  Demis Hassabis · Oct 24, 2023 · full quote

• I would advocate for a kind of CERN for AGI, and by that, I mean a kind of international research-focused high-end collaboration on the frontiers of AGI development to try and make that as safe as possible. You would also have to pair it with a kind of an institute like IAEA, to…

  Demis Hassabis · Apr 25, 2025 · full quote

• In my (currently) preferred version of a CERN for AI, an initially small but steadily growing coalition of companies and countries would: * Collaborate on designing and building highly secure chips and datacenters; * Collaborate on accelerating AI safety research and enginee…

  Miles Brundage · 2024 · full quote

• But the main regret I have with this talk is that I wish I had prepared a more for the section on a “CERN for AI.” The idea behind such a project is to pool many countries’ and companies’ resources into a single (possibly physically decentralized) civilian AI development effort, …

  Miles Brundage · Dec 11, 2024 · full quote

• An effort such as Sentinel would loosely resemble a version of CERN for AI and would aim to become the “brain” of an international regulator of AI, which would operate similarly to how the International Atomic Energy Agency works to ensure the safe and peaceful use of nuclear ene…

  Tony Blair Institute for Global Change · Jun 13, 2023 · full quote