Yoshua Bengio

Frontier AI systems could surpass most individuals across most cognitive tasks within just a few years. These advances could unlock solutions to major global challenges, but they also carry significant risks. To safely advance toward superintelligenc... more Verified source (2025)

I think it's really important because if we put something out there that is open source and can be dangerous – which is a tiny minority of all the code that is open source – essentially we're opening all the doors to bad actors [...] As these systems... more Verified source (2023)

Moreover, frontier AI companies are seeking to develop AI with a specific skill that could very well unlock all others and turbocharge advances: AIs with the ability to advance research in AI. An AI system that would be as capable at AI research as t... more AI Verified source (2024)

The investment in making AIs more capable and smarter is roughly in a ratio of a thousand to one compared to the investment in research in safety. Unverified source (2026)

I'm now very confident that it is possible to build AI systems that don't have hidden goals, hidden agendas. [...] A Scientist AI would be trained to give truthful answers based on transparent, probabilistic reasoning. Unverified source (2026)

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 Verified source (2023)

We're seeing AIs whose behavior, when they are tested, [...] is different from when they are being used. [This] significantly hampers our ability to correctly estimate risks. [...] The gap between the pace of technological advancement and our ability... more Unverified source (2026)

The simplest form of treaty would be something like this: countries agree that if they do develop advanced AI, it will be done in a safe way; that they wouldn't use their advanced AI to dominate others — that includes economically, but of course poli... more AI Verified source (2026)

The investment in making AIs more capable and smarter is roughly in a ratio of a thousand to one compared to the investment in research in safety. Unverified source (2026)

The leading AI companies are increasingly focused on building generalist AI agents — systems that can autonomously plan, act, and pursue goals across almost all tasks that humans can perform. Despite how useful these systems might be, unchecked AI ag... more Unverified source (2024)

Unfortunately, the pace of advances is still much greater than the pace of [progress in] how we can manage those risks and mitigate them. And, that, I think, puts the ball in the hands of the policymakers. Unverified source (2026)

Frontier AI models already show signs of self-preservation in experimental settings today, and eventually giving them rights would mean we're not allowed to shut them down. AI Verified source (2026)

I now see a path to actually avoid loss of control, at least unintended loss of control. With the work that I've been doing, I'm really convinced that there is a path. And it is not something that's going to take a decade; it is something that is ver... more AI Verified source (2026)

we need to increase governance and we should consider limiting access to the large-scale generalist AI systems that could be weaponized, which would mean that the code and neural net parameters would not be shared in open-source and some of the impor... more Verified source

The other catastrophic possibility is humans using AI to construct an eventually worldwide dictatorship. A small group of humans could concentrate all the power that AI will have, especially if we achieve AGI or superintelligence. And it would be muc... more AI Verified source (2026)

which increased my awareness of a possible existential risk for humanity if we do not maintain control over superhuman AI systems. AI Verified source (2023)