Treaty on the Prohibition of Artificial Intelligence

Treaty on the Prohibition of Artificial Intelligence (T.P.A.I.) was an attempt by governments to prevent the development of artificial intelligence through the signing of this treaty. When it became apparent that the creation of artificial intelligence was inevitable, T.P.A.I. was signed and ratified by the majority of the world's governments. It became international law on January 1, 2041.

Signatories[edit]

The Treaty on the Prohibition of Artificial Intelligence (T.P.A.I.) was signed by 97 states on July 31, 2035. Under international law, a treaty becomes law once the minimum number of states ratify it. Because T.P.A.I. was signed by more than 97 states, it became international law on Jan. 1, 2041. The 97 ratifying states, in order of ratification, were:

The treaty became international law on Jan. 1, 2041.

Significance[edit]

In order to prevent a technology arms race, T.P.A.I. was enacted by over ninety percent of the world's nations. It was the first treaty on artificial intelligence passed by any entity and the first step towards the formation of the United Nations Artificial Intelligence Committee (U.N.A.I.C.).

Lobbying[edit]

The lobby group which campaigned for T.P.A.I. was called the Stop The Robot Armies (S.T.R.A.) (which was sometimes jokingly referred to as the Stiffer T.R.A.X.) and was formed in 2034. S.T.R.A. successfully campaigned for the treaty. Most of the world's major nations supported the campaign.

Opposition[edit]

The only major world power not to support T.P.A.I. was the United States of America. The United States government expressed concern that a treaty would not be effective and would tie its hands in an international crisis. The United Kingdom, France, Germany, and Japan all expressed similar concerns.

Ambiguity of Definition[edit]

The terms artificial and intelligence are imprecise. Artificial is sometimes taken to mean man-made as opposed to naturally occurring (e.g. a river) and at other times is taken to mean synthetic as opposed to occurring in nature (e.g. diamonds). Intelligence is also imprecise as it has a number of meanings in common usage. In addition the term artificial is used in the treaty to mean both synthetic and man-made. Another term which is used in the treaty is device. Whilst a computer could be considered to be a device, many supporters of the treaty (and the U.N.) were concerned that computer was not explicitly mentioned in the treaty.

There are also some technical considerations. When people write software, they sometimes talk about the software being intelligent - there is however no legal definition of what it means for software to be intelligent.

See also[edit]

Artificial Intelligence: Legal, Ethical, and Societal Implications