‘Godfather of AI’ leaves Google to highlight risks of AI

Dr. Geoffrey E. Hinton, Professor Emeritus, the University of Toronto and Chief Scientific Adviser, Vector Institute, speaks during an exclusive interview by the Yomiuri Shimbun at a Tokyo hotel in Chiyoda Ward, Tokyo on Nov. 18, 2019. Dr. Hinton, known as " Godfather of Ai" has been awarded Japanese Honda Foundation, for his pioneering research in the field of deep learning in artificial intelligence and his contribution to practical application of the technology. ( The Yomiuri Shimbun via AP Images )

Geoffrey Hinton, one of the “Godfathers of AI,” has expressed regret about his life’s work in a recent interview with The New York Times. Hinton, who won the 2018 Turing Award for his groundbreaking work in artificial intelligence, resigned from his job at Google in order to speak freely about the potential risks of AI.

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Despite being consoled by the thought that someone else would have developed AI if he hadn’t, Hinton is worried about the negative impact that the technology could have. “It is hard to see how you can prevent the bad actors from using it for bad things,” he said.

Hinton joined Google after it acquired a company he started with two of his students, one of whom went on to become the chief scientist at OpenAI. Their work on neural networks, which can teach themselves to identify common objects by analysing thousands of photos, ultimately led to the creation of ChatGPT and Google Bard.

While Hinton was initially pleased with Google’s stewardship of the technology, he became concerned when Microsoft launched Bing with OpenAI technology, challenging Google’s core business. He fears that such fierce competition will result in a world where it’s difficult to discern “what is true anymore” due to the proliferation of fake imagery and text.

Google’s chief scientist, Jeff Dean, reassured the public that the company remains committed to a responsible approach to AI, saying, “We’re continually learning to understand emerging risks while also innovating boldly.”

Hinton is also worried about the long-term impact of AI on the job market and even humanity itself. He believes that AI could eliminate rote jobs and eventually surpass human intelligence, which could lead to the technology writing and running its own code.

“The idea that this stuff could actually get smarter than people—a few people believed that,” Hinton said. “But most people thought it was way off. And I thought it was way off. I thought it was 30 to 50 years or even longer away. Obviously, I no longer think that.”