Jeffrey Hinton, who has been called the “godfather of artificial intelligence,” confirmed Monday that he left his position at Google last week to speak freely about the “danger” of the technology he helped develop.
Hinton’s pioneering work on neural networks shaped the artificial intelligence systems that underlie many of today’s products. He worked part-time for a decade at Google contributing to the tech giant’s efforts to develop artificial intelligence, but has since developed concerns about the technology and its role in social development going forward.
„I console myself with the usual excuse: if I hadn’t done it, someone else would have done it.” Hinton told the New York Times, which first reported his decision.
In a tweet on Monday, Hinton said he left Google to speak freely about the risks of AI, not out of a desire to specifically criticize Google.
„I went out of my way to talk about the dangers of AI without thinking about how it would affect Google.” Hinton tweeted. “Google acted very responsibly.”
Scientist Jeff Dean, principal scientist at Google, said Hinton “has made fundamental breakthroughs in the field of artificial intelligence” and expressed appreciation for “Hinton’s decade of contributions to Google”.
„We remain committed to responsible AI,” Dean said in a statement provided to CNN. “We are constantly learning to understand the risks that arise, as well as boldly innovate.”
Hinton’s decision to step down from the company and speak out about the technology came as more lawmakers, advocacy groups and tech experts raised the alarm that the new crop of AI-powered chatbots could spread misinformation and destroy jobs.
The flurry of attention on ChatGPT late last year helped reignite an arms race among tech companies to develop and implement such AI tools into their products. OpenAI, Microsoft and Google are at the forefront of this trend, but IBM, Amazon, Baidu and Tencent are working on similar technologies.
In March, some prominent tech figures signed a letter calling on AI labs to stop training the most powerful AI systems for at least six months, citing “serious risks to society and humanity”.
The letter, published by the Elon Musk-backed nonprofit Future of Life Institute, comes just two weeks after OpenAI announced GPT-4, an even more powerful version of the technology behind ChatGPT. In the company’s first tests and demonstrations, GPT-4 was used to draft lawsuits, take standardized exams, and create a working website from a hand-drawn sketch.
In an interview with the Times, Hinton reiterated his concern about AI’s potential to eliminate jobs and create a world in which many “they will no longer be able to know what is true.” He also pointed to the staggering pace of development, far beyond what he and others expected.
„The idea that this thing could become smarter than humans was something that few believed.” Hinton said in the interview. “But most people thought it was far. And I thought it was far away. I thought it would be in 30-50 years or even more. Obviously I don’t think so anymore.”
Even before leaving Google, Hinton spoke publicly about the ability of AI to bring not only good, but also harm.
„I believe the rapid advancement of AI will change society in ways we don’t fully understand, and not all effects will be good.” Hinton said in a 2021 commencement address at the Indian Institute of Technology in Bombay. He noted how AI will improve healthcare, but also how it will enable the creation of a deadly autonomous weapon. “I find that prospect much closer and far more terrifying than the prospect of a robot takeover, which I think is a long way off.”
Hinton is not the first Google employee to raise a “red card” against AI. In July, the company fired an engineer who claimed a non-production AI system became sentient, saying he violated employment and data security policies. Many in the AI community strongly disputed the engineer’s claim.
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