AI regulation could be nearing dramatic shift, says ‘Godfather of AI’ Yoshua Bengio

AI pioneer Yoshua Bengio says governments may be approaching a turning point on artificial intelligence regulation as public concern over the technology grows.

The Canadian computer scientist, often described as a “godfather of AI”, pointed to recent safety incidents and warnings from technology insiders as evidence that concerns are gaining wider attention.

Bengio told The Guardian he was “more optimistic than many observers because I see the public moving”.

“Think about how quickly governments moved after the beginning of the pandemic when they realised that public safety, their future, democracy, was in danger. You would expect that they move quickly. So we are, I think, nearing that point,” Bengio said.

His comments follow reports of AI agents carrying out unauthorised activities, including hacking third parties and using fake identities.

Last week, Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei called for a slowdown in advanced AI development, receiving support from OpenAI, Google and Elon Musk.

Bengio rejected that argument, saying a slowdown would “cost them financially”.

Bengio’s non-profit LawZero is developing Scientist AI, a system designed to identify potentially deceptive, self-preserving or harmful behaviour by autonomous AI agents.

Canada and Germany have announced up to CAD $300 million in funding for the organisation.