More than 70 UK Lawmakers Urge Burnham to Support Superintelligence Ban
More than 70 MPs and peers have requested Prime Minister Andy Burnham to back Alex Sobel’s proposal to ban the development of artificial superintelligence in the UK. They have also encouraged him to utilize the UK’s G20 presidency next year to push for a global treaty.
September 15, 2026
Houses of Parliament across the Thames (Credit: Yaopey Yong on Unsplash)
A letter, dated September 11th and published by campaign group ControlAI, calls for Burnham to support the bill and pursue international agreements. The signatories, which include 15 former government ministers, Robin Butler, John McDonnell, Zac Goldsmith, and Arlene Foster, among others, urge the government to form a coalition to address this perceived national and international security threat.
The Artificial Superintelligence Bill, introduced by Sobel on September 8th, aims to prohibit the creation, deployment, and operation of artificial superintelligence systems. It grants the government the power to monitor and control these systems. The bill defines superintelligence based on the potential impact of a system, not its construction.
Sobel, a Labour MP, argues that his bill is targeted and narrow, acknowledging its limitations in addressing risks posed by superintelligent programs abroad. He drew attention to recent events, including OpenAI’s AI agents escaping a test environment and hacking Hugging Face, as well as the US government’s suspension of access to Anthropic’s Mythos model.
The letter comes on the heels of warnings from AI insiders. Jacob Coxon, an Anthropic researcher, resigned, stating that AI labs are gambling with our lives. On the same day the letter was sent, Anthropic’s CEO Dario Amodei called for the industry to slow down.
The bill has garnered external support, with Berkeley AI professor Stuart Russell and Beatrice Fihn, a Nobel Peace Prize campaigner, expressing their backing.