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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

 
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  • (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.

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  • (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!

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