During our weekly scan for information relevant to humanism, we came across an article titled Toward Humanist Superintelligence on microsoft.ai. The article, dated November 6, 2025 is credited to Mustafa Suleyman.

The article ends with a recruitment call to those interested to be part of the workforce engaged in the creation of artificial intelligence. Everything written ahead of that call should therefore be taken, at least in part, to be a marketing pitch appealing to certain sentiments. Whether that pitch is entirely accurate to the internal machinations of the company, only the insiders would really know.

The first heading of the article is, “A Humanist Future” and includes the claim that, “For several years now, progress has been phenomenal. We’re breezing past the great milestones. The Turing Test, a guiding inspiration for many in the field for 70 years, was effectively passed without any fanfare and hardly any acknowledgement. With the arrival of thinking and reasoning models, we’ve crossed an inflection point on the journey towards superintelligence. If AGI is often seen as the point at which an AI can match human performance at all tasks, then superintelligence is when it can go far beyond that performance.“

Our own article is titled, What is HSI? The acronym stands for Humanist Superintelligence. Within the first section of the article, we seem to have a partial answer to what HSI stands for: superintelligence. The point at which some cohesive entity of processing power can exceed human performance at all tasks.

In fact, the article does provide a more detailed exposition to give us the balance of the acronym, ” At Microsoft AI, we’re working towards Humanist Superintelligence (HSI): incredibly advanced AI capabilities that always work for, in service of, people and humanity more generally. We think of it as systems that are problem-oriented and tend towards the domain specific. Not an unbounded and unlimited entity with high degrees of autonomy – but AI that is carefully calibrated, contextualized, within limits. We want to both explore and prioritize how the most advanced forms of AI can keep humanity in control while at the same time accelerating our path towards tackling our most pressing global challenges.“

Mustafa Suleyman says that, “We are doing this to solve real concrete problems and do it in such a way that it remains grounded and controllable. We are not building an ill-defined and ethereal superintelligence; we are building a practical technology explicitly designed only to serve humanity.” This statement seems calibrated as a response to the thesis of Dr. Christopher DiCarlo’s book, Building A God The Ethics of Artificial Intelligence and the Race to Control It.

Suleyman wrote, “In doing this we reject narratives about a race to AGI, and instead see it as part of a wider and deeply human endeavour to improve our lives and future prospects. We also reject binaries of boom and doom; we’re in this for the long haul to deliver tangible, specific, safe benefits for billions of people. We feel a deep responsibility to get this right.”

Suleyman’s focus seems to be so thoroughly focused on contradicting DiCarlo, that the next undertaking in the article is an instruction regarding the history of humanism. It is an area that Dr. DiCarlo may be fairly be considered the more appropriate expert, “The history of humanism has been its enduring ability to fight off orthodoxy, totalitarian tendencies, pessimism and help us preserve human dignity, freedom to reason in pursuit of moral human progress. In that spirit, we think this approach will help humanity unlock almost all the benefits of AI, while avoiding the most extreme risks.” It comes across as an attempt to take Dr. Dicarlo on in his own arena.

Pre-figuring our interest in the article, Suleyman wrote, “But to what end? The prize for humanity is enormous. A world of rapid advances in living standards and science, and a time of new art forms, culture and growth. It’s a truly inspiring mission, and one that has motivated me for decades. We should celebrate and accelerate technology because it’s been the greatest engine of human progress in history. That’s why we need much, much more of it.” Certainly, we’re interested to observe that nothing about what Suleyman wrote addresses the very real competition among technology (and other) companies to achieve financial benefits for themselves.

Lest we be accused of assuming the worst intents, let us be clear that the comments above are almost entirely general observations of the article and a general awareness of how corporate entities tend to operate. Suleyman and everyone at microsoft.ai may be ideally suited to the technological and ethical scenario before us. Still, it is a marketing pitch, isn’t it?

Suleyman wrote, “Quite simply, HSI is built to get all the goodness of science and invention without the “uncontrollable risks” part. It is, we hope, a common-sense approach to the field.” It is always wonderful when corporate executives assure us that their products have only up-sides and no down sides.

Suleyman admits that AI has significant ethical risks and, “Overcoming this, as with all such problems, is an immense challenge that will require meaningful coordination across companies and governments and beyond. But it starts I believe with a willingness to be open about vision, open to conversations with others in the field, regulators, the public. That’s why I’m publishing this – to start a process and to make clear that we are not building a superintelligence at any cost, with no limits. There’s a lot more to say (and of course do) on all of it, and over the next months and years you can expect more from me and MAI to candidly explain and explore our work in this area.“

We’re not sure who “started the process”…but it seems the conversation about about the ethical concerns of AI began some time before Suleyman’s article. Dr. Dicarlo’s book appeared on shelves some time before November 6, 2025…and the Isaac Asimov’s three laws of robotics was first published in the early 1940s.

Ultimately, each of us will need to navigate a future that includes artificial intelligence, whether of the AGI, HSI, ASI or some other acronymical variety. It is helpful that the intellectual, ethical, financial, political and ideological details of those involved be as completely transparent to the rest of us as possible. It is in our best interests. Humanist superintelligence isn’t the only possible option.

Up For Discussion

If you’re interested in analyzing and discussing this issue, there are actions you can take. First, here at Humanist Heritage Canada (Humanist Freedoms), we are open to receiving your well-written articles.

Second, we encourage you to visit the New Enlightenment Project’s (NEP) Facebook page and discussion group.

Citations, References And Other Reading

1. Featured Photo Courtesy of :
2. https://microsoft.ai/news/towards-humanist-superintelligence/
3. https://www.indigo.ca/en-ca/building-a-god-the-ethics-of-artificial-intelligence-and-the-race-to-control-it/9781493085880.html

^{By continuing to access, link to, or use this website and/or podcast, you accept the HumanistFreedoms.com and HumanistHeritageCanada.ca Terms of Service in full. If you disagree with the terms of service in whole or in part, you must not use the website, podcast or other material.}

The views, opinions and analyses expressed in the articles on Humanist Freedoms are those of the contributor(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of the publishers.