Geoffrey Hinton flags dangers of chatbots as 'Godfather of AI' quits Google

PTC Web Desk: Computer scientist Geoffrey Hinton, widely known as the 'Godfather of AI', has quit Google after more than a decade. "I left so that I could talk about the dangers of AI without considering how it impacts Google? Geoffrey Hinton tweeted.

Hinton and two others are often referred to as the 'Godfathers of AI' after they won the 2018 Turing Award for their work related to 'Artificial Intelligence'.

Hinton says that "chatbots are quite scary and it could be exploited by bad actors". 

Notably, for half a century, Geoffrey Hinton nurtured the technology at the heart of chatbots such as ChatGPT. However, now he worries "it will cause serious harm".   

Who is Geoffrey Hinton?

A UK-born researcher and academic, Hinton started his career with a BA in Experimental Psychology from University of Cambridge in 1970. Later, he pursued  a PhD in Artificial Intelligence from the University of Edinburgh in Scotland in 1978. He also served as a faculty member in the Computer Science department at Carnegie-Mellon University in Pennsylvania, USA.

In his interview recently, Hilton expressed concern that given tools like ChatGPT scour  the Internet for information and create a final product. He believes the Internet might soon be flooded with false photos, videos and text, etc. and the average person will “not be able to know what is true anymore.”

He says over time, it might lead to machines taking over human jobs.