Richard Branson believes the environmental costs of space travel will "come down even further." Dozens of high-profile figures in business and politics are calling on world leaders to address the existential risks of artificial intelligence and the climate crisis. Virgin Group founder Richard Branson, along with former United Nations General Secretary Ban Ki-moon, and Charles Oppenheimer — the grandson of American physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer — signed an open letter urging action against the escalating dangers of the climate crisis, pandemics, nuclear weapons, and ungoverned AI. Signatories called for urgent multilateral action, including through financing the transition away from fossil fuels, signing an equitable pandemic treaty, restarting nuclear arms talks, and building global governance needed to make AI a force for good. The letter was released on Thursday by The Elders, a nongovernmental organization that was launched by former South African President Nelson Mandela and Branson to address global human rights issues and advocate for world peace.

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Persons: Richard Branson, Ban, Charles Oppenheimer —, J, Robert Oppenheimer —, Nelson Mandela, Branson, MIT cosmologist Max Tegmark, Jaan Tallinn Organizations: Virgin Group, United Nations, Elders, South, Life Institute, MIT, Skype