Alarm Sounded Over "Manhattan Project" For Superintelligent AI

Former Google CEO Eric Schmidt, Scale AI CEO Alexander Wang, and Center for AI Safety Director Dan Hendrycks are raising concerns about the global race to build superintelligent AI, Beatrice Nolan reported for Fortune’s Data Sheet.

Last year, a U.S. congressional commission proposed a “Manhattan Project-style” initiative to fund the development of AI systems with superhuman intelligence, modeled after America’s atomic bomb program in the 1940s.

In a new paper titled Superintelligence Strategy, the authors argue that the U.S. should not pursue artificial general intelligence (AGI) development through a government-backed, Manhattan Project-style initiative.

They warn that a high-stakes race to build superintelligent AI could trigger dangerous global conflicts between superpowers, similar to the nuclear arms race.

Instead, they advocate for AI development through broadly distributed research, with collaboration among governments, private companies, and academia. Transparency and international cooperation, they argue, are essential to ensuring AI benefits humanity rather than becoming an uncontrollable force.

The paper comes as U.S. policymakers consider a large-scale, state-funded AI project to compete with China’s AI efforts.

Last year, a U.S. congressional commission proposed a “Manhattan Project-style” initiative to fund the development of AI systems with superhuman intelligence, modeled after America’s atomic bomb program in the 1940s.

Since then, the Trump administration has announced a $500 billion investment in AI infrastructure, called the Stargate Project, and has rolled back AI regulations enacted by the previous administration.