Yoshua Bengio among Canadians signing global pledge against AI weaponry

Machine learning pioneer Yoshua Bengio has signed a letter with global AI experts and organizations, vowing to play no role in the creation of autonomous weapons, according to a report from CNN. The letter published online features signatories and input from over 160 AI-related companies and organizations, and 2,400 researchers from 36 countries, who are calling for a global ban on the development of lethal autonomous weapons. The purpose of the letter was to bring together governments and AI leaders to commit to "neither participate in nor support the development, manufacture, trade, or use of lethal autonomous weapons." "In this light, we the undersigned agree that the decision to take a human life should never be delegated to a machine." Other Canadian institutions and companies that have signed the letter include the Vector Institute, Element AI, Clearpath Robotics, and the Canadian Association for Artificial Intelligence.