AI pioneer Geoffrey Hinton quits Google to speak out about dangers
Some of the risks associated with AI chatbots are 'quite scary,' he says
Geoffrey Hinton, a renowned figure in the field of AI, resigned from Google last week, saying he is concerned about the potential dangers of the technology he helped pioneer.
Dr Hinton, who is sometimes called the "Godfather of AI", announced his resignation in a statement to the New York Times, stating that he has new fears about the AI technology and he wants to express them publicly.
According to the NYT, Hinton informed Google of his resignation last month. He spoke directly with CEO Sundar Pichai on Thursday, although the specifics of their conversation were not made public.
Hinton told the NYT that he regrets some aspects of his life's work.
"I console myself with the normal excuse: If I hadn't done it, somebody else would have," he stated.
He expressed his concerns about the automated proliferation of fake information, videos and photos on the internet.
"It is hard to see how you can prevent the bad actors from using it for bad things."
The AI pioneer also acknowledged that his age was a factor in his decision to depart from Google.
"I'm 75, so it's time to retire," he told the BBC.
Geoffrey Hinton joined Google about a decade ago to help the company in the development of their AI technology.
In a tweet on Monday, Hinton clarified that he departed from Google not to criticise the company but rather to express his concerns about the risks of AI freely.
"Google has acted very responsibly," he noted.
Hinton's ground-breaking work on deep learning and neural networks has paved the way for advanced AI systems, including ChatGPT. In 2012, he and two of his graduate students at the University of Toronto developed technology that serves as the conceptual basis for the AI systems that major players in the tech industry regard as critical to their future.
Geoffrey Hinton's apprehensions regarding risks of AI comes amid rising concerns from lawmakers, tech experts, and advocacy groups about the potential for AI chatbots to disseminate fake news and displace jobs.
In recent months, the attention surrounding ChatGPT has led to intense competition among tech companies to create similar AI tools, with some experts worrying that safety concerns are being pushed aside.
In March, several prominent figures in the tech industry signed a letter calling for a halt to the development of the most potent AI systems for at least six months, citing grave societal and human risks.
Geoffrey Hinton told the BBC that some of the risks associated with AI chatbots were "quite scary," warning that they could surpass human intelligence and be exploited by malicious actors.
"I've come to the conclusion that the kind of intelligence we're developing is very different from the intelligence we have," he said. "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."
Hinton is also worried about the economic and societal implications of advanced AI.
While chatbots such as ChatGPT can work alongside humans, they have the potential to replace repetitive tasks and ultimately disrupt the labour market.
"It takes away the drudge work; it might take away more than that," he said.