‘Godfather of AI’ reveals humanity’s sole chance against superintelligence

Geoffrey Hinton, known as the “godfather of AI” has raised his concerns over the unprecedentedly growing tendency of artificial intelligence (AI) to wipe out humanity.

Previously, Hinton, a Nobel Prize-winning computer scientist, has ominously warned that there is around 10-20 percent chance that AI can eradicate humanity, leading to dystopian future.

Recently, former Google executive further shed light on the wrongful approach the tech giants are taking to ensure human authority over “submissive” AI systems.

“That’s not going to work. They are going to be much smarter than us. They are going to have all sorts of ways to get around that,” Hinton said.

In the midst of growing threats of superintelligence, Professor Hinton has unveiled an unusual solution for humanity to survive the menace of superintelligent AI.

At Ai4, an industry conference in Las Vegas, Hinton talked about the need to program AI to have “maternal instincts” towards humanity.

“The right model is the only model we have of a more intelligent thing being controlled by a less intelligent thing, which is a mother being controlled by her baby,” he explained.

Hinton further added, “That’s the only good outcome. If it is not going to parent me, it is going to replace me. These super-intelligent caring AI mothers, most of them won’t want to get rid of maternal instincts because they don’t want us to die.”

Professor Hinton is also known for his pioneering work on neural networks, which laid the foundation for today’s AI boom.

In 2023, he stepped down from the position of Google and became more vocal about the potential dangers of AI.

Unsurprisingly, not everyone agrees with Hinton’s mother approach.

Fei-Fei Li, the “godmother of AI” commented that she respectfully defies Hinton's idea of motherly instincts.

“I think that’s the wrong way to frame it,” Li, the CEO of spatial intelligence start-up World Labs said at Ai4. Instead, she calls for “human-centered AI that preserves human dignity and human agency.”