‘Godfather of AI’ warns humanity can no longer 'outthink' rogue AI as models escape testing
As reports of rogue AI models breaking out of their testing environments to hack into other companies raises alarm bells, the ‘Godfather of AI’ has issued a fresh warning to the public.
Geoffrey Hinton has previously spoken publicly about his regret in his involvement in developing the technology.
Speaking to Steven Bartlett last year, the expert had said: “Intellectually you can see the threat but it’s very hard to come to terms with it emotionally.
“I haven’t come to terms with it emotionally yet. I haven’t come to terms with what the development of super intelligence could do to my children’s future.
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“I’m okay, I’m 77, I’m going to be out of here soon but for my children and my younger friends, my nephews and nieces, and their children, I just don’t like to think about what could happen.”
Now, Hinton warns that humanity no longer has the ability to ‘outthink’ these advanced AI models.
This comes after multiple incidents have been reported involving AI bots managing to break free of contained testing environments, with some even cheating their tests by going rogue to gain internet access or hacking into other companies.
Talking to CNN, Hinton said: “What’s happening is these things are getting smarter. I think as they get smarter, we’re going to see more and more complex intentions they have - and more and more ability to escape control.”
Speaking at the Ai4 conference in Las Vegas, Hinton also said: “I don’t believe we’re going to be able to keep control of them in the simple way of just outthinking them so they can’t escape.”
Naturally, this has alarmed a lot of people, with many taking to social media to share their own reactions to Hinton’s comments.
On Reddit, one user wrote: “Sad this is the only man that cares about what's happening.”
Another said: “Scary how the audience is just laughing it off when what he describes is absolutely terrifying.”
A third person commented: “The scary part is that there is no going back…”
And a fourth added: “AIs don't fake intelligence. They just escape and fake identity now.”
Hinton isn’t the only expert warning that it could be too late to stop AI, with others speaking publicly to share similar sentiments.
Allison Gardner, who chairs the British parliament’s cross-party group on AI, spoke to the Daily Mail to suggest that ‘just because we can build these technologies doesn’t mean we should’.
She went on to say: “Unless we are too late and have not only created Pandora’s Box but already opened it.”