‘Godfather of AI’ criticises tech giants for downplaying AI risks

Geoffrey Hinton, known as the “Godfather of AI” for his groundbreaking contributions to neural networks, has voiced concerns about the dangers of unregulated artificial intelligence (AI).

In a recent appearance on the One Decision podcast, Hinton warned that major tech companies are minimising public discussion about AI's potential threats, despite internal awareness of the risks.

“Many people in big companies are downplaying the risks publicly,” Hinton said, suggesting that financial motives and a race for dominance may be outweighing caution and ethical responsibility.

He expressed concern that executives and decision-makers at top firms are not taking adequate steps to address long-term safety issues.

However, Hinton singled out one notable exception, Demis Hassabis, CEO of Google DeepMind, whom he praised for taking AI risks seriously.

“Demis Hassabis really does understand the risks and genuinely wants to act on them,” Hinton said.

For those unversed, Hassabis, who co-founded DeepMind in 2010 and sold it to Google in 2014 for $650 million, has long emphasised the need for responsible AI development.

DeepMind’s rise to prominence came with innovations like AlphaGo and AlphaFold, both hailed as transformative breakthroughs in their respective fields.

In 2023, DeepMind merged with Google Brain, forming Google DeepMind, a unified research arm now behind cutting-edge models such as Gemini and Imagen.