Create a global institute for AI, similar to CERN

In order to reduce the probability of someone intentionally or unintentionally bringing about a rogue AI, we need to increase governance and we should consider limiting access to the large-scale generalist AI systems that could be weaponized, which w... more Verified source

We can’t let the same thing happen with AI. I coded the world wide web on a single computer in a small room. But that small room didn’t belong to me, it was at Cern. Cern was created in the aftermath of the second world war by the UN and European go... more Verified source (2025)

A thought experiment for regulating AI in two distinct regimes is what I call The Island. In this scenario, experts trying to build God-like AGI systems do so in a highly secure facility: an air-gapped enclosure with the best security humans can buil... more AI Verified source (2023)

In other times in history when we have faced uncertainty and powerful new things that may be both good and bad, that are dual use, we have made new organizations, as we have, for example, around nuclear power. We need to come together to build a glob... more Verified source

I sometimes talk about setting up an international CERN equivalent for AI where all the best minds in the world would collaborate together and do the final steps in a very rigorous scientific way involving all of society, maybe philosophers and socia... more AI Verified source (2026) < 1 of 2 >

The European Commission has agreed Europe needs such a body for AI, and claims to have delivered it in recent announcements. But in reality, it has not established anything resembling a CERN for AI. AI Verified source (2026)

I tentatively think that an international AGI project is feasible and desirable. [...] My favourite version of an international AGI project is loosely modelled on Intelsat, an international project that developed the first global satellite communicat... more AI Verified source (2026)

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 creat... more AI Verified source (2025)

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 re... more AI Verified source (2025)

The European Union has announced investments in artificial intelligence (AI) worth many billions of euros with the ambition of creating a “CERN for AI”. But the inclusion of Switzerland, home to the world-renowned particle physics laboratory, may be ... more AI Verified source (2025)

Panelists emphasized that talent isn’t solely drawn by salaries. A CERN for AI needs a clear mission for the public good. Examples like India’s Aadhaar system or the UK’s AI Security Institute show that visionary public projects can rally top-tier te... more AI Verified source (2025)

A CERN for AI will [...] drive innovation, economic growth, and ethical AI development. AI Verified source (2025)

Only an IAIA can [...] oversee a global AI governance framework involving all major powers. Creating a new intergovernmental organization [...] is unavoidable. AI Verified source (2025)

Still, the symbolic and structural value of a CERN-like institution could help build long-term trust and capacity in global AI governance. AI Verified source (2025)

Still, that doesn’t mean the vision for a CERN-like body for AI should fade. AI Unverifiable source (2025)

And that is why I think we need something like a CERN for AI to catch up easily and quickly. AI Verified source (2025)

In his comment [...], Bojic supported Von der Leyen's plan to develop CERN for AI as a 'substantial move towards responsible AI development'. AI Verified source (2025)

then you 'incent researchers to work together and you get quite naturally this idea of the CERN for AI,' he said. AI Verified source (2025)

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, howeve... more Verified source (2025)

There’s a good argument that there should be a Cern for AI. AI Verified source (2025)

Now is the time to create a 'CERN for AI'! AI Verified source (2025)

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) ci... more AI Verified source (2024)

A CERN for AI undoubtedly represents one credible possible model to advance targeted elements of AI safety research. AI Verified source (2024)

A "distributed-CERN" reimagined for AI, networked across diverse States and regions, could expand opportunities for greater access to AI tools and expertise. AI Verified source (2024)

designed to harness safely the powers of AI, from a 'CERN for AI' to 'Fair Trade AI' and a Global AGI agency. AI Verified source (2024)

Haydn Belfield, a researcher at the University of Cambridge’s Centre for the Study of Existential Risk and the Leverhulme Centre for the Future of Intelligence, proposes two reinforcing institutions: an International AI Agency (IAIA) and CERN for AI.... more Verified source (2024)

A CERN for AI could give Europe the computational infrastructure to build its own frontier AI models, AI Verified source (2024)

Securing Our Digital Future: Calling for CERN like international organization to transparently coordinate and progress on large-scale AI research and its safety. AI Verified source (2023)

The world needs a generative AI global governance body to solve these social, economic, and political disruptions beyond what any individual government is capable of, [...]. AI Verified source (2023)

We talk about the IAEA as a model where the world has said 'OK, very dangerous technology, let's all put some guard rails.' AI Verified source (2023)

We must place advanced AI development into the hands of a new global, trusted institution and create a safer future for everyone. AI Verified source (2023)

I would be favorable to the idea that we could have an artificial intelligence agency, [...] inspired by what the International Atomic Energy Agency is today. AI Verified source (2023)

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 a... more AI Unverifiable source (2023)

For joint R&D, recommendation R15 of the progress report called for development of “common criteria and governance arrangements for international large-scale AI R&D projects,” with the Human Genome Project (HGP) and the European Organization for Nucl... more AI Verified source (2022)

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 brigh... more Verified source (2022)

I believe we should commit to a CERN for AI, and locate it in the most competitive AI region of Europe. [...] We have a big problem when it comes to competitiveness. We’re lagging behind. The US invests €25 billion per year in AI, China €10 billion, ... more AI Verified source (2021)

The proposed umbrella organization along the lines of CERN will propel "moonshot research projects". The "CERN for AI" model is well-suited to India’s approach. AI Verified source (2018)

Given the constraints on the current research paradigm, scientists and policy advocates are increasingly coming to the conclusion that a more collaborative and international endeavor is necessary to truly harness the power of AI and ensure it is used... more AI Verified source (2018)

Philipp Slusallek, Scientific Director of the German Research Center for Artificial Intelligence, suggests a “CERN for AI”—“a collaborative, scientific effort to accelerate and consolidate the development and uptake of AI for the benefit of all human... more AI Verified source (2017)

We want to replicate the success story of the CERN laboratory in Geneva. CERN hosts the largest particle accelerator in the world. And it allows the best and the brightest minds in the world to work together. We want the same to happen in our AI Giga... more Verified source

Long timelines and cost overruns often plague ambitious big science collaborations. Physics breakthroughs have required enormous hardware investments over years. For example, to build CERN’s Large Hadron Collider, over 10,000 scientists and engineers... more AI Verified source (2024)

[...] calls for a CERN-like open-source collaboration among the United States and allied countries to establish an international "supercomputing research facility". AI Verified source (2023)

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 do... more Verified source (2024)

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. AI Verified source (2025)

Suppose that frontier AI development is centralized to a single project under tight international controls, with all other development banned internationally. By far the likeliest outcome of this is that we all die. A centralized group of internatio... more AI Unverifiable source (2025)

'The reference to CERN is symbolic,' a European Commission spokeswoman clarified via email, adding that the initiative is intended primarily for EU member states. AI Verified source (2025)

We don’t need to invent something about the implications of AI in defense, because we already have the Geneva Convention. AI Verified source (2024)

At the time, the Advisors recommended that this should be a distributed institution, not a single centralised organisation. AI Verified source (2024)

It’s great to see this proposal is now gaining traction. We need to make sure that we think carefully about how an AI institute is designed, because it really matters. [...] It should provide fair access to massive high-performing computational power... more AI Unverifiable source (2024)

The AI Safety Network stands as a cornerstone of this effort. AI Verified source (2024)

cooperation with our allies through a global scientific network on AI safety. AI Verified source (2024)

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 uniq... more AI Verified source (2023)

Talk of a Cern for AI is just rhetoric — don’t be fooled. AI Verified source (2023)

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. Verified source (2020)