Stories
Slash Boxes
Comments

SoylentNews is people

Artificial Intelligence 'Godfather' on AI Possibly Wiping Out Humanity: ‘It's Not Inconceivable’

posted by hubie on Thursday March 30 2023, @01:32AM   Printer-friendly
from the EXTERMINATE dept.

fliptop writes:

Geoffrey Hinton, a computer scientist who has been called "the godfather of artificial intelligence", says it is "not inconceivable" that AI may develop to the point where it poses a threat to humanity:

The computer scientist sat down with CBS News this week about his predictions for the advancement of AI. He compared the invention of AI to electricity or the wheel.

Hinton, who works at Google and the University of Toronto, said that the development of general purpose AI is progressing sooner than people may imagine. General purpose AI is artificial intelligence with several intended and unintended purposes, including speech recognition, answering questions and translation.

"Until quite recently, I thought it was going to be like 20 to 50 years before we have general purpose AI. And now I think it may be 20 years or less," Hinton predicted. Asked specifically the chances of AI "wiping out humanity," Hinton said, "I think it's not inconceivable. That's all I'll say."

[...] Hinton said it was plausible for computers to eventually gain the ability to create ideas to improve themselves.

Also at CBS News. Originally spotted on The Eponymous Pickle.

Previously: OpenAI's New ChatGPT Bot: 10 "Dangerous" Things it's Capable of

Original Submission

 
This discussion was created by hubie (1068) for logged-in users only, but now has been archived. No new comments can be posted.
Artificial Intelligence 'Godfather' on AI Possibly Wiping Out Humanity: ‘It's Not Inconceivable’ | Log In/Create an Account | Top | 61 comments | Search Discussion
Display Options Threshold/Breakthrough Mark All as Read Mark All as Unread
The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.

  • (Score: 5, Insightful) by NotSanguine on Thursday March 30 2023, @03:03AM (6 children)

    by NotSanguine (285) <{NotSanguine} {at} {SoylentNews.Org}> on Thursday March 30 2023, @03:03AM (#1298775) Homepage Journal

    AGI is *not* even close to what TFS says it is. Please check this [wikipedia.org] out for more details.

    Ugh.

    --
    No, no, you're not thinking; you're just being logical. --Niels Bohr
    Starting Score:    1  point
    Moderation   +3  
       Insightful=2, Interesting=1, Informative=1, Overrated=1, Total=5
    Extra 'Insightful' Modifier   0  
    Karma-Bonus Modifier   +1  
    Total Score:   5  

  • (Score: 2) by EJ on Thursday March 30 2023, @02:10PM (5 children)

    by EJ (2452) on Thursday March 30 2023, @02:10PM (#1298881)

    I think you may be confused. I didn't click on the article, but the summary above never mentions AGI. It simply mentions GENERAL PURPOSE AI, meaning AI without a narrowly defined specific function.

    • (Score: 2) by EJ on Thursday March 30 2023, @02:13PM (4 children)

      by EJ (2452) on Thursday March 30 2023, @02:13PM (#1298883)

      Replying to my own post because I decided to click on the article. Did you miss this passage in the article?

      "Artificial general intelligence refers to the potential ability for an intelligence agent to learn any mental task that a human can do. It has not been developed yet, and computer scientists are still figuring out if it is possible."

      That's almost exactly what the link you posted starts out with.

      • (Score: 4, Insightful) by guest reader on Thursday March 30 2023, @04:56PM

        by guest reader (26132) on Thursday March 30 2023, @04:56PM (#1298918)

        Or, a simple test is to ask it something like [arxiv.org]:

        There are five birds on a branch. If you shoot one of them off the branch, how many are left on the branch?

        ChatGPT [openai.com] Mar 14 Version:

        If you shoot one bird off the branch, there will be 4 birds left on the branch.

        OpenChatKit [huggingface.co] GPT-JT:

        There are 5 birds on the branch. If you shoot one of them off the branch, that leaves 5 - 1 = 4 birds on the branch.

        human:

        None.

      • (Score: 2) by NotSanguine on Thursday March 30 2023, @05:00PM (2 children)

        by NotSanguine (285) <{NotSanguine} {at} {SoylentNews.Org}> on Thursday March 30 2023, @05:00PM (#1298919) Homepage Journal

        I decided to click on the article. Did you miss this passage in the article?

        You read TFA? Shame on you! That's just wrong on so many levels.

        I certainly didn't and that bit isn't in TFS, is it?

        However, in TFS, the statement:

        General purpose AI is artificial intelligence with several intended and unintended purposes, including speech recognition, answering questions and translation.

        If we only knew what General purpose AI was. Apparently, it's not really clear what that term means. In fact [venturebeat.com]:

        The AI space is laden with acronyms — but arguably, one of the most-discussed right now is GPAI (general purpose AI).

        As anyone paying attention to the AI landscape is well-aware, this term could eventually define — and regulate — systems in the European Union’s AI Act.

        But, since it was proposed in an amendment earlier this year, many question its specificity (or lack thereof) and implications.

        The GPAI definition in the AI Act is “far from being very robust,” Alexandra Belias, international public policy manager for DeepMind, said during a panel discussion hosted this week by the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation’s (ITIF) Center for Data Innovation.

        GPAI, in fact, is an acronym that no one was even using or aware of just a few months ago, she said. Researchers and the AI community can’t yet agree on an adequate term because, “how can you define something without having adequately scoped it?”

        I'd add that General Purpose AI (whatever that might be) is not AGI, why is that even relevant to a discussion of "AI Possibly Wiping Out Humanity."

        And since LLMs and other "AI" that exists today (and for decades/centuries/never) are not AGIs with sentience and agency. Those are not the same thing at all. To quote the noted philosopher, General purpose AI and Artificial general intelligence are not the same thing at all. They:

        Okay, maybe it's related "sport" but it ain't the same thing at all.

        --
        No, no, you're not thinking; you're just being logical. --Niels Bohr

        • (Score: 2) by acid andy on Thursday March 30 2023, @06:40PM (1 child)

          by acid andy (1683) on Thursday March 30 2023, @06:40PM (#1298958) Homepage Journal

          I'd add that General Purpose AI (whatever that might be) is not AGI, why is that even relevant to a discussion of "AI Possibly Wiping Out Humanity."

          I'd guess some people want the two terms to be confused because they can make more money that way. It's a bit like an LED backlit monitor being marketed as an LED monitor; that way someone looking for an OLED one might buy it without realizing what they're getting.

          --
          Welcome to Edgeways. Words should apply in advance as spaces are highly limite—

          • (Score: 2) by NotSanguine on Thursday March 30 2023, @07:21PM

            by NotSanguine (285) <{NotSanguine} {at} {SoylentNews.Org}> on Thursday March 30 2023, @07:21PM (#1298967) Homepage Journal

            I'd guess some people want the two terms to be confused because they can make more money that way.

            Yep. It's interesting how "Expert Systems" became "AI". And now it's "General Purpose AI". We certainly seem to be getting closer (at least in terms of marketing drivel) to "Artificial General Intelligence," even though that's just bullshit^W marketing-speak.

            That's not to say that impressive advances haven't been made, but those improvements have been evolutionary rather than revolutionary.

            We'll need some serious revolutions in machine learning to create AI as smart as a prawn.

            Mmmmm....Prawns!

            --
            No, no, you're not thinking; you're just being logical. --Niels Bohr