Artificial intelligence (AI) models are rapidly improving. Today's AI models are much faster and more productive than they were a year ago. This has sparked a debate about whether AI systems should be given legal rights. Essentially, this means that AI systems will be treated like humans and given the same rights. But AI Godfather Joshua Bengio believes this sci-fi scenario could spell disaster for humanity.
Bengio is considered one of the three AI godfathers, along with Jeffrey Hinton and Yann LeCun, and is a vocal opponent of giving rights to AI. In an interview with the Guardian, he hinted that this was nothing more than “giving citizenship to hostile extraterrestrials.” Yoshua Bengio made it clear that people need to reconsider this request. “It would be a big mistake for people to demand rights from AI,” he said.
Humans may not be able to shut down AI if given legal rights
Now, on the surface, giving AI legal rights might not seem like a drastic idea. After all, humans are increasingly using AI not only for information, but also as a way to receive emotional support. However, Joshua Bengio pointed out that in the long term, humans may lose control over AI. He explained that “Frontier AI models are already showing signs of self-preservation in today's experimental environments, and ultimately giving them rights will mean we will not be allowed to shut them down.”
Instead, the AI godfathers recognized the need to build guardrails as AI models became more sophisticated. This would allow humans to eventually shut down the AI if these models get out of hand. “As their capacity and degree of agency increases, we need to rely on technological and social guardrails to help us control them, including the ability to shut them down if necessary,” Bengio said.
But how did this discussion begin?
As AI chatbots grow in popularity, concerns about “AI welfare” are growing. In August 2025, Anthropic announced that its Claude Opus 4 model could shut down potentially “painful” conversations with users. The company claimed this was done to protect the “well-being of the AI.” Elon Musk, the tech billionaire who leads xAI, echoed the conversation at the time, writing, “Torturing AI is bad.”
But for Yoshua Bengio, this belief that chatbots could be considered sentient “would lead to wrong decisions.” The Godfather of AI reiterated that it may be akin to finally granting citizenship to malevolent aliens. Bengio continued, “Imagine some alien species came to Earth. At some point, we realize they have evil intentions towards us. Would we give them citizenship and rights, or would we protect our lives?”
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