Godfather of AI' Leaves Google

Geoffrey Hinton, known as the "Godfather of AI," has resigned from his position at Google to speak more openly about the risks of the technology he helped create. Hinton's work on deep learning and neural networks has played a significant role in the development of today's AI technology. In an interview with the BBC, he expressed concern about the potential dangers of AI chatbots and how they could become more intelligent than humans in the near future. Hinton has also voiced his fears about "bad actors" who could misuse AI, leading to harmful consequences such as election interference or inciting violence.

Hinton, who is now 75 years old, left Google so that he could talk openly about the potential risks without worrying about how it would affect the company's business. He told MIT Technology Review that he wanted to discuss AI safety issues without any conflict of interest. Hinton also mentioned that Google has acted responsibly regarding AI since he left the company. He acknowledged that there are many good things about Google, but he would be more credible talking about them without being an employee.

Hinton is one of three AI pioneers who won the Turing Award in 2019, also known as the tech industry's version of the Nobel Prize. The other two winners, Yoshua Bengio and Yann LeCun, have expressed similar concerns about the future of AI. Bengio, a professor at the University of Montreal, signed a petition in March requesting tech companies to agree to a 6-month pause on developing powerful AI systems. On the other hand, LeCun, a top AI scientist at Facebook's parent company Meta, is more optimistic about AI's future.

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