What's the goal of the Don't Build It march?
We're calling for an international treaty to ban the development of Artificial Superintelligence (ASI).
Why?
We believe that if any company or group, anywhere on the planet, builds an artificial superintelligence using anything remotely like current techniques, based on anything remotely like the present understanding of AI, then everyone, everywhere on Earth, will die.
We do not mean that as hyperbole. We are not exaggerating for effect. We think that is the most direct extrapolation from the knowledge, evidence, and institutional conduct around artificial intelligence today.
Why do you think that?
AI companies are racing to create artificial superintelligence, while having no idea what they’re doing. This is a bad idea according to theory. And in practice, the warning signs are mounting.
We lay out the argument as clearly and concisely as we can in our book. You can also read our online resources, which go into some details not covered in the book.
Why does the pledge only take effect if 100,000 people pledge to march?
Marches can be very powerful if they’re large, but can send the wrong message if they’re small. So we're only asking that you pledge to march if enough other people will join in. If we reach 100,000 pledges, we will schedule the march. If not, we’ll put our efforts towards other strategies instead.
We might reach critical mass soon. Or it might take months or years, as more people learn about the dangers of ASI.
What do you mean by "international treaty"?
It's not useful for only one country to ban advancement of AI capabilities within its own borders. AI development would just keep happening in other countries by people who didn’t understand the dangers, until eventually someone somewhere built machines that were substantially smarter than any human.
This isn't an issue where lawmakers can pass a law inside their own country to protect their own people. If anyone builds machine superintelligence, everyone dies, everywhere. A problem like this requires multiple major powers of the world to unite in a shared agreement to stop this reckless suicide race.
We call on our leaders to declare support for such a treaty, and to begin drafting it now. We call on the whole world to unite to avert the danger.
It would not be the first time that humanity has put a stop to a technological race. Humanity has backed off from creating super-large nuclear warheads, and from creating some of the most dangerous bioweapons. We’ve done it before, and we can do it again.
How much notice will there be for the actual march?
We’ll aim to give at least one month notice once we hit 100,000 pledges, unless we crossed the threshold on account of some pending emergency.
What if I don't want to commit to marching in D.C. yet?
You can also just sign up for updates! We'll let you know when our primary march reaches 100,000 pledges.
If and when we host a large march in Washington D.C., we might also wind up hosting many smaller marches in other cities around the world, depending on interest and other factors.