Geoffrey Hinton, a prominent computer scientist sometimes referred to as the “godfather of AI,” has quit Google and now says he regrets what AI could mean for misinformation and people’s livelihoods. Among many other tech luminaries, Hinton is concerned about the implications of artificial intelligence, according to an interview with The New York Times published Monday.
Hinton said he fears that average people won’t be able to tell the difference between real and AI-generated photos, videos and text and that AI might also kill jobs, upending not just rote work or number crunching but also more advanced careers.
“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.”
Taking the current AI trajectory a step further, Hinton fears that AI could generate its own computer code, become autonomous and weaponize itself. And now that AI has been unleashed, he said, there’s no way to really control or regulate it. While companies may agree to a set of terms, countries may continue developing AI tech in secret, not wanting to cede any ground.
[…]
