AI Guru Geoffrey Hinton Warns: Technology Could Seize Control From Humans

"Godfather of AI" Geoffrey Hinton He was roused from sleep late at night last year upon learning that he had been awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics. He mentioned that he never anticipated such an honor.

“I dreamed of achieving recognition for understanding how the brain functions. However, despite not unraveling how the brain operates, I ended up winning anyway,” Hinton stated.

The 77-year-old researcher received an accolade for his trailblazing contributions to neural networks—introducing in 1986 a technique to forecast the subsequent word in a series—which is now a fundamental principle underlying modern extensive language models.

While Hinton believes artificial intelligence He believes it could revolutionize education and healthcare and possibly address climate change, but he is growing more worried about its swift progression.

Hinton elaborated, "The best emotional understanding comes from imagining ourselves as someone with an incredibly adorable tiger cub. Unless you're absolutely certain that it won’t turn dangerous as it matures, you have reason for concern."

People still don't get it.

The AI innovator suggests there’s a 10% to 20% chance that artificial intelligence could ultimately seize control from people.

"People still haven't grasped it, they haven't realized what's heading their way," he cautioned.

His worries mirror those expressed by prominent figures in the industry such as Sundar Pichai, the CEO of Google. Sundar Pichai , X-AI's Elon Musk, and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, All of them have voiced comparable concerns. However, Hinton condemns these corporations for valuing profit over security.

"Hinton pointed out that if we examine the actions of major corporations today, they are pushing for even fewer regulations on AI. Despite the current lack of substantial rules, these companies desire further deregulation," he explained.

Hinton seems notably disillusioned with Google, his former employer, due to their shift in position regarding artificial intelligence technologies for military use.

Hinton suggests that AI firms ought to invest considerably more resources into safety research—allocating around one-third of their computational capacity towards this effort—as opposed to the relatively minor portion they presently dedicate.

CBS News queried all the referenced AI laboratories about what portion of their computational resources is dedicated to safety research. They did not provide specific figures. Instead, these organizations stated that safety is crucial and generally endorse regulatory measures; however, they have largely resisted the particular regulations proposed by legislators up until now.