MONTREAL – Canadian AI pioneer Yoshua Bengio is launching a new non-profit focused on developing safer artificial intelligence systems.
The organization named LawZero is committed to advancing research and developing technical solutions for safe-by-design AI systems.
LawZero aims to build non-agentic AI that can be used to speed scientific discovery, to provide oversight for agentic AI systems and to advance the understanding of AI risks and how to avoid them.
Bengio, LawZero’s president and scientific director, has long voiced concerns about AI.
He says the new group comes after recognizing the rapid progress made by private labs toward artificial general intelligence and beyond, as well as its profound implications for humanity.
Bengio says current frontier systems are already showing signs of self-preservation and deceptive behaviours, and this will only accelerate as their capabilities and degree of agency increase.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 3, 2025.
