‘Godfather of AI’ Warns of Potential Dangers as AI Continues to Advance
Geoffrey Hinton, known as the ‘Godfather of AI,’ recently won the Nobel Prize in Physics for his pioneering work in neural networks. However, his recognition comes as he expresses growing concern over the rapid development of artificial intelligence. Hinton, 77, was awarded for proposing a method in 1986 to predict the next word in a sequence, a concept that now forms the foundation of today’s large language models.
While Hinton believes AI has the potential to transform various fields such as education and medicine, and possibly even help solve climate change, he is increasingly worried about its unchecked growth. “We’re like someone who has this really cute tiger cub,” Hinton explained. “Unless you can be very sure that it’s not gonna want to kill you when it’s grown up, you should worry.”
Hinton estimates there’s a 10% to 20% risk that AI could eventually take control from humans. “People haven’t understood what’s coming,” he warned, echoing concerns raised by industry leaders like Google CEO Sundar Pichai, Elon Musk of X-AI, and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman.
However, Hinton criticizes these same tech giants for prioritizing profits over safety. “The big companies are lobbying to get less AI regulation,” he said. “There’s hardly any regulation as it is, but they want less.” He expressed particular disappointment with Google, where he previously worked, for changing its stance on military AI applications.
Hinton advocates for AI companies to allocate significantly more resources to safety research — suggesting “like a third” of their computing power. When CBS News asked major AI labs about their current allocation for safety research, none provided a specific number. While they acknowledged the importance of safety and supported regulation in principle, they have generally opposed the specific regulations proposed by lawmakers so far.
As AI continues to advance, Hinton’s warnings highlight the need for a balanced approach that considers both the benefits and potential risks of this rapidly evolving technology.
