US lawmakers propose sweeping AI restrictions with superintelligence ban

Legislation seeks to pause advanced AI systems until federal safety standards are established

Americans are growing increasingly concerns about the role of AI [File: Karl Mondon/AFP]

United States Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Representative Greg Casar of Texas introduced a new bill that would impose sweeping restrictions on the artificial intelligence industry, including banning the development of what is called artificial superintelligence.

The legislation, introduced on Wednesday, comes weeks after top AI industry researchers issued dire warnings that the technology could wipe out humanity within the next decade, according to a wave of industry insiders.

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The nearly 20-page bill outlines an outright ban on the development of intelligence that can outperform a human being and has the power “to destroy or disempower humanity, including by overthrowing the federal government.”

The legislation would also call for a temporary pause on the development of advanced AI systems until a regulatory body that can oversee and develop safety standards is put in place, as well as establishing a cabinet-level department called the Department of Artificial Intelligence that would oversee the industry.

The proposed agency would be tasked with regulating what are called frontier models — a term referring to the most advanced AI models in development. The agency would ensure the models are not dangerous, and it would be empowered to remove the models from circulation if they do, in fact, become dangerous and supervise their destruction.

The bill would also impose steep penalties for those who violate the superintelligence ban, resulting in 20 years in prison, mirroring comparable punishments for individuals who develop nuclear weapons. It also states that individuals who violate the provisions would be barred from working in the AI industry for 10 years.

For companies, the legislation also calls for what the summary describing the legislation refers to as a “corporate death penalty,” in which charter holders could have their intellectual property and assets seized by the federal government.

The legislation calls for international coordination to institute a global ban. That would include pursuing international agreements, as well as instituting export controls on “artificial intelligence computing infrastructure”.

Advocates of a pullback like the bill but are sceptical.

“[It’s] unlikely to pass but it’s courageous and much safer than the status quo,” Alex Turner, a former researcher who resigned from Google DeepMind in June, told Al Jazeera.

Concerned that “an artificial intelligence system that exhibits or can easily be modified to exhibit capabilities that match or exceed human cognitive performance and capabilities across a broad range of domains or tasks” is too broad, it might cover current systems. The second definition (disempowerment of govt) seems better,” he said.

The legislation comes as US President Donald Trump told the United Nations General Assembly on Tuesday that the US would rename artificial intelligence “super intelligence” in all US government documents.

“The United States also totally rejects any attempt to construct a globality scheme to control for the artificial intelligence being spoken of so much now, hereinafter called super intelligence. Changing the name,” Trump said in his remarks.

“The use of the word artificial makes intelligence sound fake,” Trump said.

The increased pressure on the AI industry ramped up earlier this month, when Jacob Coxon, a former AI researcher at Anthropic, announced his resignation from the AI giant in a viral social media post outlining the dangers of the technology.

“The people building AI earnestly believe that it could kill us all by the end of the decade. This is not a marketing stunt. If anything, many executives and senior researchers will couch their phrasing in the press to sound sensible – but I hear the same people express fear,” Coxon said.

The bill comes as both OpenAI and Anthropic near initial public offerings on Wall Street, poised for 2027 for OpenAI and potentially November for Anthropic.

该法案旨在暂停使用先进的人工智能系统，直到联邦安全标准制定完成。

美国人越来越关注人工智能的作用 [图片：Karl Mondon/AFP]

美国佛蒙特州参议员伯尼·桑德斯和德克萨斯州众议员格雷格·卡萨尔提出了一项新法案，该法案将对人工智能行业施加全面限制，包括禁止开发所谓的“人工智能超级智能”。

据众多业内人士透露，这项于周三提出的法案，是在顶级人工智能行业研究人员发出严厉警告数周后出台的，这些警告称，这项技术可能会在未来十年内毁灭人类。

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（共4条，第4条）人工智能领袖警告灾难之际，美国和中国却拒绝放缓发展步伐。

这份近 20 页的法案明确禁止开发能够超越人类能力并拥有“摧毁或削弱人类力量，包括推翻联邦政府”能力的智能。

该立法还将要求暂时停止开发先进的人工智能系统，直到建立一个能够监督和制定安全标准的监管机构，并设立一个名为人工智能部的内阁级部门来监督该行业。

拟议中的机构将负责监管所谓的前沿模型——该术语指的是正在开发中的最先进的人工智能模型。该机构将确保这些模型不具危险性，并有权在模型确实变得危险时将其从流通中移除，并监督其销毁过程。

该法案还将对违反超级智能禁令者处以严厉处罚，最高可判处20年监禁，与研发核武器者所受的刑罚相当。法案还规定，违反相关条款者将被禁止在人工智能行业工作10年。

对于公司而言，该立法还要求对公司实施立法摘要中所说的“企业死刑”，即联邦政府可以没收特许公司持有者的知识产权和资产。

该法案呼吁开展国际协调，以实施全球禁令。这包括寻求达成国际协议，以及对“人工智能计算基础设施”实施出口管制。

支持撤回类似法案的人士，但对此持怀疑态度。

“（这项提案）不太可能获得通过，但它很有勇气，而且比维持现状要安全得多，”6 月份从谷歌 DeepMind 辞职的前研究员 Alex Turner 告诉半岛电视台。

他担心“人工智能系统如果展现出或可以轻易修改以展现出在广泛领域或任务中达到或超越人类认知能力”的定义过于宽泛，可能会涵盖现有系统。他表示：“第二个定义（削弱政府权力）似乎更好。”

就在美国总统唐纳德·特朗普周二在联合国大会上表示，美国将在所有美国政府文件中将人工智能更名为“超级智能”之后，这项立法也随之出台。

“美国也完全反对任何试图构建全球控制体系来控制现在人们经常谈论的人工智能（以下简称超级智能，只是改了个名字）的企图，”特朗普在讲话中说道。

特朗普说：“使用‘人工智能’这个词会让智能听起来像是假的。”

本月初，人工智能行业面临的压力进一步加大。当时，前人工智能研究员雅各布·考克森(Jacob Coxon)在社交媒体上发布了一篇病毒式传播的帖子，宣布从这家人工智能巨头辞职，并在帖子中概述了该技术的危险性。

“人工智能的开发者们真心相信，到十年末，它可能会毁灭我们所有人。这并非营销噱头。事实上，许多高管和资深研究人员会在媒体上委婉地表达他们的观点，使其听起来合情合理——但我听到的却是这些人表达的恐惧，”考克森说道。

该法案出台之际，OpenAI 和 Anthropic 都即将在华尔街进行首次公开​​募股，OpenAI 计划于 2027 年上市，而 Anthropic 则可能在 11 月上市。