A computer scientist often dubbed “the godfather of artificial intelligence” (AI) has quit his job at Google to speak out about the dangers of the technology, US media reported on Monday.
Geoffrey Hinton, who created a foundation technology for AI systems, told the New York Times that advancements in the field posed “profound risks to society and humanity.”
Photo: Reuters
‘THAT’S SCARY’
“Look at how it was five years ago and how it is now,” he was quoted as saying in the article.
“Take the difference and propagate it forwards. That’s scary,” he said.
Hinton said that competition between tech giants was pushing companies to release new AI technologies at dangerous speeds, risking jobs and spreading misinformation.
“It is hard to see how you can prevent the bad actors from using it for bad things,” he told the Times.
Last year, Google and OpenAI — the start-up behind the popular AI chatbot ChatGPT — started building systems using much larger amounts of data than before.
Hinton told the Times he believed that these systems were eclipsing human intelligence in some ways because of the amount of data they were analyzing.
“Maybe what is going on in these systems is actually a lot better than what is going on in the brain,” he told the paper.
While AI has been used to support human workers, the rapid expansion of chatbots such as ChatGPT could put jobs at risk.
AI “takes away the drudge work,” but “might take away more than that,” he told the Times.
MISINFORMATION
The researcher also talked about the potential spread of misinformation created by AI, saying that the average person would “not be able to know what is true anymore.”
Hinton notified Google of his resignation last month, the Times reported.
Jeff Dean, lead scientist for Google AI, thanked Hinton in a statement to US media.
“As one of the first companies to publish AI Principles, we remain committed to a responsible approach to AI,” the statement added. “We’re continually learning to understand emerging risks, while also innovating boldly.”
In March, tech billionaire Elon Musk and a range of experts signed an open letter calling for a pause in the development of AI systems to allow time to make sure they are safe.
Hinton did not sign that letter at the time, but told the New York Times that scientists should not “scale this up more until they have understood whether they can control it.”
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) would not produce its most advanced technologies in the US next year, Minister of Economic Affairs J.W. Kuo (郭智輝) said yesterday. Kuo made the comment during an appearance at the legislature, hours after the chipmaker announced that it would invest an additional US$100 billion to expand its manufacturing operations in the US. Asked by Taiwan People’s Party Legislator-at-large Chang Chi-kai (張啟楷) if TSMC would allow its most advanced technologies, the yet-to-be-released 2-nanometer and 1.6-nanometer processes, to go to the US in the near term, Kuo denied it. TSMC recently opened its first US factory, which produces 4-nanometer
GREAT SUCCESS: Republican Senator Todd Young expressed surprise at Trump’s comments and said he expects the administration to keep the program running US lawmakers who helped secure billions of dollars in subsidies for domestic semiconductor manufacturing rejected US President Donald Trump’s call to revoke the 2022 CHIPS and Science Act, signaling that any repeal effort in the US Congress would fall short. US Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, who negotiated the law, on Wednesday said that Trump’s demand would fail, while a top Republican proponent, US Senator Todd Young, expressed surprise at the president’s comments and said he expects the administration to keep the program running. The CHIPS Act is “essential for America leading the world in tech, leading the world in AI [artificial
REACTIONS: While most analysts were positive about TSMC’s investment, one said the US expansion could disrupt the company’s supply-demand balance Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co’s (TSMC, 台積電) new US$100 billion investment in the US would exert a positive effect on the chipmaker’s revenue in the medium term on the back of booming artificial intelligence (AI) chip demand from US chip designers, an International Data Corp (IDC) analyst said yesterday. “This is good for TSMC in terms of business expansion, as its major clients for advanced chips are US chip designers,” IDC senior semiconductor research manager Galen Zeng (曾冠瑋) said by telephone yesterday. “Besides, those US companies all consider supply chain resilience a business imperative,” Zeng said. That meant local supply would
BIG INVESTMENT: Hon Hai is building the world’s largest assembly plant for servers based on Nvidia Corp’s state-of-the-art AI chips, Jalisco Governor Pablo Lemus said The construction of Hon Hai Precision Industry Co’s (鴻海精密) massive artificial intelligence (AI) server plant near Guadalajara, Mexico, would be completed in a year despite the threat of new tariffs from US President Donald Trump, Jalisco Governor Pablo Lemus said. Hon Hai, also known as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團), is investing about US$900 million in what would become the world’s largest assembly plant for servers based on Nvidia Corp’s state-of-the-art GB200 AI chips, Lemus said. The project consists of two phases: the expansion of an existing Hon Hai facility in the municipality of El Salto, and the construction of a
RSS