Recently, Geoffrey Hinton, the lauded “Godfather of AI,” has left Google after working there for over 10 years. In a recent interview with the New York Times, he shared his regrets in creating the technology that, while potentially revolutionary and groundbreaking, could also become a threat to humanity.
While Hinton didn’t single out Google, his concerns revolve around the ever-increasing pace of innovation in AI. Companies such as OpenAI, Google and others are in an AI race to create generative products such as chatbots, suggesting growing fear surrounding how far we can take the technology and what risks it holds.
Jeff Dean, chief scientist at Google, acknowledged Hintons contribution to the company, saying “Geoff has made foundational breakthroughs in AI, and we appreciate his decade of contributions at Google”.
However, reports from Bloomberg suggested that even some of the Googlers tried to hold Back from releasing Bard, out of fears of misuse, and also worried Google wasn’t dedicating resources towards ethics. AI principles mentioned by Jeff Dean and emerging risks blog posts would suggest the company is taking steps in the right direction.
Hinton however left Google to openly speak about the potential threats posed by AI, and remained critical of the developers. His comments revolved around how this rapid development could be used to spread fake information and unhoneyd technology ultimately leading to human labour becoming obsolete.
This sentiment is echoed by Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, and was demonstrated in a report by Goldman Sachs which showed how generative technologies could potentially impact 300 million full-time jobs, specifically legal, administrative and translation roles.
It’s evident then that Geoffrey Hinton’s departure from Google brings to light the need for innovation in technology while maintaining ethical behaviour and preserving the interests of humanity. It’s essential that technology giants keep an open dialogue and remain aware of their decisions and effects in order to make sure the development of AI is balanced and measured.
