CAMBRIDGE, MA – Future of Life Institute (FLI) President and Co-Founder Max Tegmark today released the following statement after Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer released the long awaited Senate AI Roadmap:

“I applaud Senators Schumer, Rounds, Young, and Heinrich for this important step toward tangible legislation to rein in the AI arms race that is driven by corporate profits, not what’s best for people around the world. It is good that this roadmap recognizes the risks from AGI and other powerful AI systems. However, we need more action as soon as possible.

“The reality is that the United States is already far behind Europe in developing and implementing policies that can make technological innovation sustainable by reducing the threats and harms presented by out-of-control, unchecked AI development. While this report is a good step in the right direction, more steps are urgently needed, including commonsense regulation to ensure that AI remains safe, ethical, reliable, and beneficial. As we have seen this week with OpenAI’s and Google’s release of their latest models, these companies remain locked in an accelerating race to create increasingly powerful and risky systems, without meaningful guardrails or oversight, even as the leaders of these corporations have stated that future more advanced AI could potentially cause human extinction.

“In order to harness the massive benefits of AI and minimize its considerable risks, policymakers and elected officials must be vigilant in the face of Big Tech recklessness and make sure that technological advancement is in the best interests of all – not just a handful of private corporations and billionaires.

Tegmark participated in the Senate’s bipartisan AI Insight Forum in October. He made headlines last year when he led an open letter calling for a six month pause on giant AI experiments.

See Max Tegmark’s full written testimony for the Senate AI Insight Forum.