The one usually known as the «godfather» of AI and Nobel Prize winner Geoffrey Hinton, has once again disagreed with other experts such as Sam Altman or Elon Musk. According to the latter, artificial intelligence will bring benefits to the majority of people and will allow working to stop being an obligation. It will simply be an option in a largely idle world.
The question that, quite logically, most people ask is the following: If you don’t work, then what will you live on? In response, the founders of OpenAI and Tesla often resort to thinking about a universal basic income. That is, everyone has a salary even if they do nothing, while the machines take care of everything. Sounds good, right?
Geoffrey Hinton contra Sam Altman
In new statements given to The Financial Times, Geoffrey Hinton has expressed his opposition to this utopian vision held by Sam Altman and Elon Musk. Their position is clear: artificial intelligence will not make a fairer and more equal world for everyone, precisely for one reason: because it will be quite the opposite. The thing is not about that, he says: «It will not address human dignity.»
Furthermore, Hinton has insisted on the message that he has been repeating for some years now: the problem is not technology, since it is only a tool (at least, for now). The problem is «the capitalist system.» That is to say, that Nobody is going to give anything away, with or without artificial intelligenceso Altman or Musk’s prospects seem like fairy tales.
On the other hand, although Geoffrey Hinton admits the widespread uncertainty regarding AI, and maintains that «we have no idea what is going to happen», he does not deny that the worst can become reality. And what is the worst? Well, a scenario in which AI is even capable of extinct humanity. He says there’s a 10 or 20% chance of that happening.
But even if the machine apocalypse does not happen and humans are still part of the planet, it is not too optimistic, once again. Artificial intelligence, he believes, «will make the rich richer and the poor poorer.»
Hinton left Google to watch Netflix
Taking advantage of the occasion, Geoffrey Hinton also opened up about why he left Google in 2023. Contrary to what some think, he did not do so to be able to warn more freely about the risks of artificial intelligence. «I was 75 years old and I couldn’t program as well as I did before.»he acknowledges.
And he adds: «There is a lot of Netflix content that I have not yet had the chance to see.» A touch of casualness that contrasts with his usual pessimistic vision of the future.