As physicians, we are trained to prevent what we cannot cure. Advanced artificial intelligence could cause harm to people and societies that no health system could repair after the fact. The prevention of severe and irreversible harm from AI should be a global priority, with the same seriousness we bring to pandemics and nuclear war.

Physicians see what happens to people when systems fail. Many of us are concerned about the risks of advanced AI, from catastrophic loss of control to effects on mental health, autonomy and the stability of societies, yet few have said so publicly. This short statement is meant to make that easier, and to show how many of us take these risks seriously.

It is open to physicians with a medical degree from any country.

Sign the statement Signed by 12 physicians from 12 countries

Signatories

Founding signatories

Amara Okafor
MD, Emergency Medicine, Lagos, Nigeria
Jonas Lindqvist
MD, PhD, Infectious Diseases, Stockholm, Sweden
Priya Raman
MBBS, Paediatrics, Chennai, India
Thomas Keller
Dr. med., Anaesthesiology, Zurich, Switzerland
Maria Fernanda Costa
MD, Family Medicine, Porto, Portugal
Daniel Achterberg
MD, Psychiatry, Boston, United States
Yuki Tanaka
MD, Radiology, Osaka, Japan
Samuel Adeyemi
MBChB, MPH, Public Health, Accra, Ghana
Hannah Weiss
MD, Palliative Care, Berlin, Germany
Carlos Mendoza
MD, Cardiology, Mexico City, Mexico

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About this statement

Physicians have spoken up about civilisational risks before. In 1980, doctors from the United States and the Soviet Union founded International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War, arguing that a nuclear war would leave no one to treat, so the only medicine was prevention. The movement received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1985. We believe the same argument applies to advanced AI.

This is not a statement against AI. Many of us use AI tools in our practice and welcome them. It is about a category of risk that current safeguards do not address, and about the responsibility of a trusted profession to name it.

Physicians for AI Safety is an independent initiative started in September 2026 by two physicians in the United States and Switzerland. We are not affiliated with IPPNW, any AI company or any political party.

Read our full mission and the six domains of concern