'Godfather of AI' Geoffrey Hinton quits Google to speak out 'dangers' of AI

Geoffrey Hinton on Monday tweeted that he left Google not to criticise it but to speak about the dangers of AI. He also said that Google had acted very responsibly.

New Delhi: Geoffrey Hinton, popularly known as 'Godfather of AI' has quit Google, where he worked for over a decade last week to talk about the "dangers" of Artifical Intelligence (AI), a technology that he had helped to develop. Considered as one of the pioneers in the field, Hinton, aged 75 is credited for creating the foundation for AI systems that has shaped up the popular chatbots like ChatGPT.

By quitting Google, the AI pioneer has joined the group of critics who have been constantly warning of potential dangers of AI. Taking to Twitter, Hinton clarified that he left Google not to criticise it but to speak about the dangers of AI. He also said that Google had acted very responsibly. "In the NYT today, Cade Metz implies that I left Google so that I could criticize Google. Actually, I left so that I could talk about the dangers of AI without considering how this impacts Google. Google has acted very responsibly," he tweeted.

• In the NYT today, Cade Metz implies that I left Google so that I could criticize Google. Actually, I left so that I could talk about the dangers of AI without considering how this impacts Google. Google has acted very responsibly.

  — Geoffrey Hinton (@geoffreyhinton) May 1, 2023 " class="align-text-top noRightClick twitterSection" data="

  In the NYT today, Cade Metz implies that I left Google so that I could criticize Google. Actually, I left so that I could talk about the dangers of AI without considering how this impacts Google. Google has acted very responsibly.

  — Geoffrey Hinton (@geoffreyhinton) May 1, 2023

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  In the NYT today, Cade Metz implies that I left Google so that I could criticize Google. Actually, I left so that I could talk about the dangers of AI without considering how this impacts Google. Google has acted very responsibly.

  — Geoffrey Hinton (@geoffreyhinton) May 1, 2023

Announcing his resignation in a statement to New York Times, Hinton said he regretted his work. On Monday, in an interview to BBC he said that he can now speak out freely about what he thought were the risks of AI. He apprehended that some of the dangers were quite scary.

He expressed his concern over the ability of AI to reduce jobs leading to layoff. Also, he was worried that the future versions of the technology might be dangerous to humans.

In 2012, Hinton and his two undergraduate students of University of Toronto came up with a technology for laying the foundation of AI that many believe is the key to the future. In 2018, Hinton was awarded 'Nobel Prize of computing' along with two other scientists.