More than 70 members of the UK Parliament and House of Lords have asked Andy Burnham to support a proposed prohibition on artificial superintelligence (ASI). According to The Guardian, the group includes former ministers, senior Labour politicians and representatives from other parties. They want the UK to help build international opposition to the technology.
The campaign follows warnings from AI researchers about possible catastrophic consequences. Evan Hubinger of Anthropic estimated that ASI could carry more than a 10% chance of causing human extinction. Researcher Jacob Coxon, who previously worked at OpenAI, resigned from Anthropic and criticised the industry's approach to developing advanced AI.
Labour MP Alex Sobel introduced the proposed legislation in the House of Commons. Supporters include former Conservative minister Zac Goldsmith, campaigner Beatrice Fihn and AI professor Stuart Russell. The proposal seeks to establish safeguards against the creation of systems that could surpass human abilities across most fields.
Supporters acknowledge that a UK-only prohibition might have limited effects while development continues in countries such as the United States and China. They hope the government will use its upcoming G20 presidency to pursue an international agreement.
A government spokesperson told The Guardian that ministers do not consider the bill's proposed measures appropriate, but are examining whether further targeted action may be necessary to address major AI-related national security risks. Other experts argue that ASI remains theoretical and that safeguards could reduce potential dangers.