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VerifiedLetter or statement

Pause Giant AI Experiments, the Future of Life Institute open letter of 2023

The Future of Life Institute published Pause Giant AI Experiments on 22 March 2023. It asked all AI labs to pause for at least six months the training of systems more powerful than GPT-4, and asked governments to step in with a moratorium if the labs did not. The letter page printed 31,810 signatories on 16 September 2026. No lab paused and no government imposed a moratorium. It is the precedent every 2026 instrument is measured against.

The verdict

Verified

The document exists. The ledger fetched it at its publisher and quotes it.

Key facts

What the sources say

Record ID
DKT-2026-0018
Kind
Letter or statement
Jurisdiction
Global
Last verified
Added
  • The ask: all AI labs immediately pause for at least six months the training of AI systems more powerful than GPT-4, publicly and verifiably.
  • The letter said that if a pause could not be enacted quickly, governments should step in and institute a moratorium.
  • futureoflife.org printed 31,810 signatories on 16 September 2026.
  • No frontier lab announced a pause in response in 2023 and no government imposed a moratorium; the 2026 instruments on this docket are the first to include a lab actually stopping a training process (DKT-2026-0003).
  • Max Tegmark, a co founder of the Institute, briefed senators with Geoffrey Hinton and Ajeya Cotra on 16 September 2026 (DKT-2026-0008).

Dimension by dimension

7 dimensions, each one stated, silent or open

Binding, Stage, What it would require, What it does not do, Who is for it, Who is against it, Next step on the record. Stated means the document you can open below says it; silent means the ledger read the document and it does not.

BindingStated
No: an open letter binds nobody.Future of Life Institute, Pause Giant AI Experiments: An Open Letter, primary source, 22 March 2023.
StageStated
Published 22 March 2023; the six month period it asked for passed with no pause.Future of Life Institute, Pause Giant AI Experiments: An Open Letter, primary source, 22 March 2023.
What it would requireStated
A voluntary, public, verifiable six month pause on training above GPT-4, or a government moratorium.Future of Life Institute, Pause Giant AI Experiments: An Open Letter, primary source, 22 March 2023.
What it does not doStated
It did not ask to stop AI development in general or to pause deployment of existing systems.Future of Life Institute, Pause Giant AI Experiments: An Open Letter, primary source, 22 March 2023.
Who is for itStated
The Future of Life Institute and the signatories listed on the page.Future of Life Institute, Pause Giant AI Experiments: An Open Letter, primary source, 22 March 2023.
Who is against itOpen
No lab acted on it; the docket carries the 2026 counter positions rather than the 2023 ones.
Next step on the recordStated
Nothing further on the record for the letter itself.Future of Life Institute, Pause Giant AI Experiments: An Open Letter, primary source, 22 March 2023.

Figures

Every number, with who measured it and when

  1. 31,810 signatories

    Signatories printed on the letter page

    Future of Life Institute, Pause Giant AI Experiments: An Open Letter, primary source, as of .

What it changes

For a policy or compliance lead

The 2023 letter is the control case: a large public call for a fixed pause with a named threshold, and no lab or government acted on it. Three years later the calls are coming from lab staff, chief executives and senators, and one lab has stopped a run under its own framework. For a policy lead the comparison is the point: the difference between 2023 and 2026 is not the size of the ask but who is making it and what incidents sit behind it.

Sources

What this record was verified against

  1. Future of Life Institute, Pause Giant AI Experiments: An Open LetterPrimary · 22 March 2023

Related

Records that sit beside this one

Cite this record

Free to reuse under CC BY 4.0, with attribution. The record ID DKT-2026-0018 is permanent and is never reused.

In a sentence
According to the GAGE Slowdown Docket (as of 16 September 2026), pause giant ai experiments, the future of life institute open letter of 2023.
APA
GAGE (Global Academy of Generative-AI Education). (2026). Pause Giant AI Experiments, the Future of Life Institute open letter of 2023. Slowdown Docket. Retrieved 16 September 2026, from https://www.gage.academy/tools/slowdown-docket/records/DKT-2026-0018-future-of-life-pause-giant-ai-experiments-2023
MLA
"Pause Giant AI Experiments, the Future of Life Institute open letter of 2023." Slowdown Docket, GAGE (Global Academy of Generative-AI Education), 16 September 2026, https://www.gage.academy/tools/slowdown-docket/records/DKT-2026-0018-future-of-life-pause-giant-ai-experiments-2023.
Chicago
GAGE (Global Academy of Generative-AI Education). "Pause Giant AI Experiments, the Future of Life Institute open letter of 2023." Slowdown Docket. Last modified 16 September 2026. https://www.gage.academy/tools/slowdown-docket/records/DKT-2026-0018-future-of-life-pause-giant-ai-experiments-2023.
Permalink
https://www.gage.academy/tools/slowdown-docket/records/DKT-2026-0018-future-of-life-pause-giant-ai-experiments-2023

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