Nobel Prize-winning researcher leaves Google to warn about the dangers of AI

American physicist John Hopfield and AI expert Geoffrey Hinton were awarded the 2024 Nobel Prize in Physics this week. Considered the “father of AI,” Hinton’s 2012 research laid the foundations for today’s neural networks. But in 2023, he left Google to join the chorus of critics sounding the alarm about the technology.

The "godfather" of artificial intelligence (AI), computer scientist Geoffrey Hinton. Photo: AFP

In an interview with The New York Times last year about leaving his position as vice president and engineer at Google, Hinton said he had previously thought of Google as the “real steward” of this powerful technology, until Microsoft partnered with OpenAI to release OpenAI’s large language model (LLM) GPT-4, the platform that powers ChatGPT.

While he didn't believe AI had peaked at the time, the 76-year-old computer scientist said he saw promise in the deal between Microsoft and OpenAI.

Before leaving Google and joining a slew of high-profile figures including Elon Musk in signing an open letter calling for a pause in AI development, Hinton went on CBS News to warn that the world had reached a "critical juncture" in terms of technology.

“I think it’s very reasonable for people to be concerned about these issues right now, even though it’s not going to happen for a year or two,” he told CBS at the time.

Now a professor emeritus at the University of Toronto, Hinton has made it very clear that he thinks AI could escape human control at any time, and once that happens, things could get chaotic.

In a conversation with the Nobel Committee, the computer scientist said: "We are dealing with the problem of what is going to happen and what to do about it. I wish I had a simple formula to make everything go right. But I don't."

Considered a leading AI “pessimist” for his bleak view of the technology he helped create, Hinton said in his speech to the Nobel Committee that he was surprised to learn he had won the prize and had not even known he had been nominated.

Ngoc Anh (according to Futurism)

Source: https://www.congluan.vn/nha-nghien-cuu-vua-gianh-giai-nobel-tung-roi-google-de-canh-bao-ve-moi-nguy-hiem-cua-ai-post316188.html