AI Big Threat to Humanity: Prof Geoffrey Hinton

Nobel prize winner Professor Geoffrey Hinton is of the view that AI superintelligence is a big threat to humanity. He expressed these views while speaking at Oxford’s annual Romanes Lecture early this year, according to a report by a leading publication.

According to him AI superintelligence driven by an inherent need to achieve its objective efficiently will develop sub goals and acquire more control. This pursuit of power could lead it to manipulate humans.

During the lecture he revealed that due to unpredictable nature of AI evolution, as these systems become more sophisticated, they can develop a sense of self preservation, engage in Darwinian struggle for resources leading to emergence of aggressive and dominant AI entities mirroring conflicts seen in human history.

Recent development in large language models has convinced him that AI superintelligence is just a decade or two away and is poised to surpass human brain in what it can achieve.

Thus, he has called for a pause in developing advance AI system to allow time for development of control mechanisms and deeper understanding of risks associated with it.

He has stressed that impact of AI will soon be felt in mid-level intellectual job which will be wiped out completely however new job creation will happen in areas where the demand for services can be expanded such as healthcare.

The need of the hour is collaboration among the best brains in the industry to oversee controlled development of AI for the greater good of the society