Artificial intelligence that is smarter than humans could be more dangerous than helpful. That’s the sentiment echoed by some of the world’s most prominent AI scientists. Max Tegmark, a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Yoshua Bengio, “godfather of AI” and a professor at the Université de Montréal, have raised concerns about the proliferation of AI agents without guardrails.

According to Bengio, there is a greater risk in developing artificial intelligence agents without safeguards or knowing how they will behave.

“Do we want to be in competition with entities that are smarter than us? It’s not a very reassuring gamble, right? So we have to understand how self-preservation can emerge as a goal in AI,” Bengio said in a podcast on CNBC.

Tegmark believes there is a need for safety standards to govern how AI tools operate. The ultimate goal is to have powerful AI agents or tools that are simultaneously under human control.

“I think, on an optimistic note here, we can have almost everything that we’re excited about with AI … if we simply insist on having some basic safety standards before people can sell powerful AI systems,” Tegmark said.

In 2023, Tegmark’s Future of Life Institute recommended halting the creation of AI systems that could rival humans in intelligence. Although that hasn’t happened, Tegmark stated that the topic is being discussed and that it’s time to act to determine how to implement safeguards to regulate AGI.

Sentiments by the two AI scientists come on the heels of US President Donald Trump repealing former President Joe Biden’s guardrails that sought to govern the development of artificial intelligence. One key provision under the previous order was the requirement that tech companies develop the most advanced AI models and share details about their work with the government before releasing them to the public.

While tech giants had welcomed the AI safety measure, there was disquiet among some big players insisting that the order, which invoked the Defense Production Act, had the potential to derail the nascent industry. Venture capitalist Marc Andreessen had already warned before Trump came to office that the Biden order would deliberately affect AI development given the onerous regulations in play.

Trump had always been vocal against the AI safety measure, reiterating during the campaigns that it hindered innovation and imposed radical leftwing ideas on technology development. However, free speech was not restricted by the Biden order itself.

Certain provisions of the Biden AI measure sought standards for watermarking AI-generated content in an effort to lessen the risks of impersonation and abusive sexual deepfake imagery. Several federal agencies were also instructed to protect against the possible negative effects of AI applications, cautioning against careless applications that reproduced and intensified existing inequities.

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9. Safe Pro Group Inc. (NASDAQ:SPAI)

Number of Hedge Fund Holders: N/A

Safe Pro Group Inc. (NASDAQ:SPAI) manufactures and sells personal protective gear and ballistic protection products in the United States. It also deals in artificial intelligence (AI) solutions specializing in drone imagery processing. On January 31st, the company confirmed that it is receiving interest for its New American-made Protective Gear from potential buyers in the military law enforcement and public safety markets.

Its ultra-weight 305 PRO hard armor and SpotlightAI, the patented AI-powered drone image analysis technology, are the two solutions eliciting strong interest. Safe Pro Group Inc. (NASDAQ:SPAI) uses cutting-edge machine learning to identify small objects, especially unexploded ordnance (UXO) and landmines. It performs noticeably better using the AWS cloud to process each image in less than 0.2 seconds than conventional human analysis.

8. VCI Global Limited (NASDAQ:VCIG)

Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 1

VCI Global Limited (NASDAQ:VCIG) is a leading provider of AI-driven enterprise solutions. It offers technology consultancy services and solutions, such as digital development, fintech solutions, and software solutions. On February 5th, it unveiled a next-generation AI aggregator platform. The platform is designed to enhance AI integration while providing seamless access to major AI models such as ChatGPT and DeepSeek.

The unveiling of the next-generation AI aggregator platform is part of VCI Global Limited’s (NASDAQ:VCIG) effort to tap into the global AI platform market, growing at a 20% compound annual growth rate. It positions the company to tap into the rising demand for AI solutions as businesses look to enhance efficiency and operations around AI. The company works with AI developers, enterprises, and industry experts to ensure the platform offers businesses, developers, and technology providers the most value possible.