‘Godfather of AI’ quits Google and warns of “scary” developments in chatbots
A Google computer scientist dubbed the ‘godfather of AI’ has left the company after warning about the “quite scary” recent developments of artificial intelligence.
75-year-old Geoffrey Hinton believes AI is on the cusp of becoming smarter than people, which is a leap forward than what he previously believed 30 years ago.
Last week, he announced his resignation from Google and urged tech giants not to enter an AI arms race.
Hinton is deeply concerned about how it could impact society and humanity.
It follows startling advancements in language learning models during the last twelve months.
OpenAI’s ChatGPT received critical acclaim on its release last year but there are fears about how chatbots and AI could replace workers and upend the job industry.
Hinton noted: “Right now, what we’re seeing is things like GPT-4 eclipses a person in the amount of general knowledge it has and it eclipses them by a long way.”
Hinton played a vital role in researching deep learning and neural networks.
Both of those forms of tech have been key to building today’s advanced AI systems.
The Advanced Research and Invention Agency says Hinton’s resignation is a clear sign that more time and resources need to be invested in AI safety.
It follows the release of an open letter by tech experts including Elon Musk in March urging companies to hit the pause button on further developments.
This week, Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak warned that AI could make misinformation and scams much harder to spot.
In an interview with the BBC, he remarked that ‘AI is so intelligent it’s open to the bad players, the one’s that want to trick you about who they are’.
Hilton and Wozniak are among many that have made calls for stricter regulations and safeguards surrounding the use of AI.