Stephen Hawking and Elon Musk are among a growing list of experts who have signed a letter pledging that AI will benefit mankind and that they will work to put safeguards in place so that it does not “supersede” humans.

Hawking was recently quoted saying that humans clearly have a slower biological evolution and would, in the long run, be superseded by artificial intelligence. To ensure that that doesn’t happen, the Future of Life Institute drafted the letter and got two of modern society’s most prolific scientists on board.

AI has already brought about astounding and positive changes to our society, and will continue to do so. It will, however, come with many negative consequences, such as replacing humans in the job market and structurally altering global economic systems.

The pledge signed by Musk and Hawking discusses the countless benefits brought about by AI such as speech recognition, driverless cars and much more, but added that “the promise of AI to solve human problems had to be matched with safeguards on how it was used.”

The document says that research must be done as to what the possible flaws and pitfalls could be, and lays out a variety of aspects that the research must look into. The specifics like funding and who will do the research isn’t all worked out, but this is a big step in ensuring that the gloomy Sci-Fi future we so often see does not come true. Having many of the experts who work in this exact field support this pledge is also a significant advancement, and a glimpse of hope for those who are already terrified by artificial intelligence.