The inventor of artificial intelligence (AI) has quit Google after expressing concerns about the spread of misinformation, videos, and images online as well as the potential impact that AI will have on the job market.
In 2012, Dr. Geoffrey Hinton, also known as the godfather of AI, and two of his students at the University of Toronto created a neural net.
Hinton, 75, regrets the contribution he made to AI in part, and quit to speak freely about its dangers.
Current systems like ChatGPT are a result of Hinton’s research.
According to Hinton, until last year, he believed that Google was a “proper steward” of the technology. However, after Microsoft began integrating chatbots into its Bing search engine and the corporation started to worry about the damage to its search business, his opinion changed.
He warned that some of the risks associated with AI chatbots were “quite scary” and that they might eventually surpass human intelligence and be exploited by “bad actors” to their advantage.
“I’ve come to the conclusion that the kind of intelligence we’re developing is very different from the intelligence we have.” Hinton 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.”
However, the problem Hinton mentions is actually something that has already become a reality – AI-generated photos, videos, and text on the web will make it impossible for people to distinguish what is real from what is not.
In March, a photo of Pope Frances wearing a Balenciaga puffer coat went viral. This was made possible by new updates to image generators like Midjourney.
In the long run, Hinton is afraid that AI will eliminate jobs like paralegals, personal assistants, and other “drudge work.”
According to Google’s chief scientist, Jeff Dean, Hinton has contributed significantly to Google over the past ten years.
“I’ve deeply enjoyed our many conversations over the years. I’ll miss him, and I wish him well!
“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.”
