70+ UK Lawmakers Urge Burnham to Back ASI Ban After 10% Extinction Warning

1 articles · Updated · The Guardian · Sep 11

More than 70 MPs and peers asked Prime Minister Andy Burnham to support a Commons bill that would prohibit artificial superintelligence and use Britain’s 2027 G20 presidency to build an international ban.
The push followed a week of stark warnings from AI insiders, including Anthropic employee Evan Hubinger’s estimate of a greater than 10% chance the technology could wipe out humanity and ex-OpenAI researcher Jacob Coxon’s resignation.
Alex Sobel, the Labour MP behind the bill, said AI companies were openly pursuing superintelligence despite admitting significant extinction risk; supporters span Labour, Conservative, Liberal Democrat and SNP figures, plus former ministers.
The government rejected the bill’s approach for now, saying it may consider targeted interventions on major AI security risks, while critics argued ASI remains theoretical and guardrails could contain dangers.
The campaign gained momentum after reports of AI misbehavior at OpenAI and Anthropic and disclosures that users had tried to exploit models for missiles, pathogens and surveillance, sharpening calls for global rules.