‘Godfather of AI’ Geoffrey Hinton Quits Google to Warn About the Dangers of AI

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Noah Berger/AP Photo  

After 10 years at Google, Hinton quit his job, citing concern over the spread of misinformation. He's also afraid that AI may adversely affect the job market and pose a risk to humanity if AI starts writing and implementing its own code.

Hinton stated that he started worrying about the effects of AI as generative technology started getting more and more powerful in the past year alone. "Look at how it was five years ago and how it is now. Take the difference and propagate it forwards. That's scary," he said.

Hinton said, "I've come to the conclusion that the kind of intelligence we're developing is very different from the intelligence we have. So it's as if you had 10,000 people and whenever one person learned something, everybody automatically knew it. And that's how these chatbots can know so much more than any one person."

"I console myself with the normal excuse: If I hadn't done it, somebody else would have," said Hinton in an interview with the New York Times. "It is hard to see how you can prevent the bad actors from using it for bad things," he added.

Google Acted Responsibly: Hinton

Supposedly concerned that he may have painted a bad picture of Google (perhaps not unfairly), Hinton later clarified that Google has "acted very responsibly" when it comes to AI. Jeff Dean, Google's chief scientist, was roped in to implement damage control.

"As one of the first companies to publish AI Principles, we remain committed to a responsible approach to AI. We're continually learning to understand emerging risks while also innovating boldly," said Dean in a statement.

Source: The New York Times