The "Godfather Of AI" Argues AI May Be A "More Urgent" Concern Than Climate Change

Jun, 2023 - by CMI

Geoffrey Hinton, a computer scientist, stated that he had left Google due to mounting worries about the possibly dangerous application of AI technology.

The "Godfather of AI" recently left Google promoting awareness of the risks posed by artificial intelligence and has suggested that the threat the technology poses to the planet may be more important than climate change. Geoffrey Hinton, who left Google last week, continues to raise concerns about AI in an interview with Reuters. In an interview with the New York Times that was released on Monday, Hinton made his exit public.

"I would prefer not to downplay climate change. I would like not to advise people to not be concerned about climate change. That's a significant danger as well," Hinton told Reuters. But I believe that this may wind up being more urgent. It's quite simple to suggest what you should do to combat climate change: stop burning carbon. Things will turn out alright eventually if you do that. It's not at all obvious what you should do in this case.

The success of ChatGPT has sparked a competition among tech titans for AI skills, which is why Hinton made these remarks this week. In March, Hinton's previous employer unveiled Bard, its own chatbot. Employees at Google criticized it and cautioned that the technology might be harmful, according to Bloomberg. But Hinton said in a tweet that came after his Times interview that he left Google so that he could discuss artificial intelligence publicly without jeopardizing the company, which he claimed had operated "very responsibly."

Hinton fears AI will spread misinformation and eliminate jobs. AI might influence 300 million full-time jobs, according to Goldman Sachs. In his Times interview, Hinton wondered if it was too late to slow AI's acceleration.

"I give myself the standard justification: Someone else would have done it if I hadn't. It is challenging to envision how you can stop the bad actors from abusing it, Hinton told the Times. Google didn't reply to Insider's request for comment right away.