Dr. Geoffrey Hinton, an AI (artificial intelligence) pioneer at Google, quit the company after over a decade. Hinton is nicknamed the “Godfather of AI,” because of his lifelong research on neural networks. Many believed that Hinton left Google so that he could criticize the company. However, as per Hinton’s tweet, he left the firm to speak about the dangers of AI.
What worries the former Google AI expert?
His primary issue with AI, as expressed in an interview with the New York Times, was its potential to flood the internet with fake images, videos, and text. He expressed worry that many people would “no longer be able to know what is true.” Hinton also fretted about AI replacing humans in the workforce. He thinks that when AI learns unexpected behaviors from the vast volumes of data it examines, it will eventually threaten humanity.
The former Google employee also raised concerns about the ongoing competition to advance AI technology in order to employ it in lethal autonomous weapons systems (LAWS).
However, Hinton is not the only person in the tech industry to voice concerns about AI. Google CEO Sundar Pichai also stated in an interview that he believes society is not ready for AI advancements. He believes that society would need to advance itself if it were to co-exist with AI.
Regulators, policymakers, and leaders in the tech sector have all expressed worry in recent months about the advancement of AI. A call for a temporary pause to AI development was made in an open letter signed by more than 2,600 industry CEOs and researchers in March. The group cited “profound risks to society and humanity.”
A similar petition was signed by 12 EU legislators in April. Moreover, a recent EU draft rule divided AI products into danger categories. Additionally, the UK is providing $125 million to help a task force for the creation of “Safe AI.