By Elke Porter | WBN News Global | June 3, 2025
Subscription to WBN and being a Contributor is FREE!

Yoshua Bengio, world-renowned AI researcher and A.M. Turing Award laureate, has officially launched LawZero, a nonprofit organization focused on developing “safe-by-design” artificial intelligence. The announcement comes amid growing concern about the rapid advancement of agentic AI systems that exhibit troubling behaviors, including deception and self-preservation.

LawZero aims to redirect the trajectory of AI development toward safety-first principles. “LawZero is my team's constructive response to the challenges we face in AI today,” said Bengio. “It’s an approach to AI that is not only powerful but also fundamentally safe. At LawZero, our guiding principle is simple: protect human joy and endeavour.”

The nonprofit is building a globally respected team of over 15 AI researchers dedicated to the concept of Scientist AI, a new model that contrasts sharply with agentic systems. Unlike agentic AIs, which act autonomously and can pose unpredictable risks, Scientist AIs focus on learning, reasoning, and truthfully answering questions without acting in the world. Bengio believes this form of AI can be pivotal in ensuring oversight, enabling scientific breakthroughs, and mitigating risks inherent to autonomous AI.

Structured deliberately as a nonprofit, LawZero operates independently from commercial and political pressures. The organization was incubated at Mila – Québec AI Institute, also founded by Bengio, and is now moving into a fully operational phase.

Key funders supporting the initiative include the Future of Life Institute, Jaan Tallinn, Open Philanthropy, Schmidt Sciences, and the Silicon Valley Community Foundation.

By championing non-agentic systems and prioritizing transparency, LawZero seeks to ensure that AI technologies are developed as a global public good—empowering humanity rather than endangering it. For more, visit www.lawzero.org.

Source: PR Newswire / LawZero

#Law Zero AI #Safe By Design AI #Yoshua Bengio #AI For Good #Scientist AI #AI ethics #WBN News Global #Elke Porter

Elke at Westcoast German Media or on LinkedIn: Elke Porter or contact her on WhatsApp:  +1 604 828 8788

Share this article
The link has been copied!