Frequently asked questions
What is PauseAI?
PauseAI is an international movement of volunteers. We campaign for a pause on the development of the most powerful AI systems until we know how to build them safely and under democratic control. PauseAI Freiburg is a local group of PauseAI Germany.
What exactly do you ask for?
We ask for an international treaty that temporarily stops the training of the most powerful general AI systems. The pause must stay in place until effective safety measures and democratic control exist. See the PauseAI proposal for details.
Are you against AI or against technology?
No. Many AI applications are useful, for example in medicine. We only want to pause the development of the most powerful systems, whose risks nobody can control today.
Which risks do you see?
Advanced AI can be misused, for example for cyberattacks or to develop biological weapons. It can concentrate power in the hands of a few companies or states. And nobody knows yet how to reliably control systems that are smarter than humans.
We are not alone with these concerns. In 2023, hundreds of AI researchers, among them Geoffrey Hinton and Yoshua Bengio, signed this statement: “Mitigating the risk of extinction from AI should be a global priority alongside other societal-scale risks such as pandemics and nuclear war.”
Is a pause realistic at all?
International treaties are hard, but possible. Examples are the Montreal Protocol that protects the ozone layer and the treaties against the spread of nuclear weapons. Training the largest AI models needs special chips that only a few companies make. This makes it possible to verify a treaty.
What about China and other countries?
This is why we ask for an international treaty. A pause only works if the most important countries take part, including the USA and China. No country benefits when nobody can control the technology.
I am not an AI expert. Can I still help?
Yes! Most of us are not experts. Read how you can get involved, or simply come to one of our events.