Elon Musk and hundreds of experts have signed a petition asking for a six-month pause in artificial intelligence research, citing potential dangers to humanity. The petition calls for a moratorium on research until a security system is in place, including regulatory bodies to oversee artificial intelligence systems, techniques to distinguish between real and artificial, and institutions capable of managing economic and political disruptions caused by AI.

According to the petition, if a halt to AI research is not implemented soon, governments should intervene and establish a moratorium. The petition gathers people who have already expressed fears about uncontrolled AI surpassing humans, including Elon Musk, Steve Wozniak, and experts at American universities and Microsoft.

The public call questions whether machines should be allowed to flood information channels with propaganda, automate all jobs or develop non-human minds that could replace people. The authors argue that decisions about AI should not be made solely by the leaders of technology firms.