Yoshua Bengio launches LawZero, a nonprofit AI safety lab

Turing Award winner Yoshua Bengio is launching a nonprofit AI safety lab called LawZero to build safer AI systems, he told the Financial Times on Monday.

LawZero raised $30 million in philanthropic contributions from Skype founding engineer Jaan Tallinn, former Google chief Eric Schmidt, Open Philanthropy, and the Future of Life Institute, among others. The name LawZero is a nod to a science fiction concept: the Zeroth Law of Robotics, which places the protection of humanity above all else.

Bengio, considered one of the “godfathers” to the modern AI boom, has become one of the most vocal advocates for the AI safety movement. He publicly supported SB-1047, California’s controversial AI safety bill that aimed to prevent AI systems from causing catastrophic scenarios.

In an interview with the Financial Times, Bengio said he had little faith in OpenAI and Google to prioritize safety as they race toward more intelligent AI systems.