AI pioneer Geoffrey Hinton warned that increasingly advanced artificial intelligence (AI) could threaten humanity, urging stronger safeguards as he argued that humans must prioritize their own interests over potentially superintelligent machines.
Hinton Warns AI Could Threaten Humanity
On Tuesday, in an interview with The Guardian, Hinton, widely known as the "godfather of AI," warned that AI systems could eventually escape human control and pose an existential threat.
He estimated there was a 10% to 20% chance AI could cause human extinction in the coming decades.
"The unique problem with AI is that if it goes wrong, if it takes over, you don’t get a second chance," Hinton said.
Hinton also addressed criticism from Nvidia Corp. (NASDAQ:NVDA) CEO Jensen Huang, who dismissed his extinction-risk estimate as unscientific.
Hinton Slams Trump’s AI Stance, Says He Would ‘Choose Human Beings’
Hinton criticized President Donald Trump’s opposition to government safeguards for AI, calling him a "corrupt, senile felon."
He also argued that Trump’s use of the term "superintelligence" demonstrated a lack of understanding of AI.
"Superintelligence means smarter than people," Hinton said, adding that changing the terminology would not make AI more intelligent.
Describing advanced AI systems as "alien beings," Hinton noted that we should make them in a way that they are happy in a “symbiotic relationship” with humans “where our concerns are weighed more heavily than their concerns.”
"I’m willing to be selfish and choose human beings," he added.
Tech Leaders Embrace Superintelligence
First Lady Melania Trump renamed her annual student AI competition the Presidential Super Intelligence Challenge, aligning it with President Donald Trump’s push to replace the term AI with superintelligence, or SI.
Earlier this month, Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (NASDAQ:SPCX) CEO Elon Musk said humanity serving as a "biological bootloader" for machine intelligence could be a successful outcome if superintelligence spread beyond Earth.
He described propagating superintelligence to the stars as a "great success condition."
In February, Meta Platforms, Inc.’s (NASDAQ:META) Chief AI Officer Alexandr Wang pushed back against concerns about screen addiction, saying the company’s vision of "personal superintelligence" focused on empowering users rather than keeping them online. He said the technology was intended to help people manage tasks, improve wellness, pursue goals and strengthen relationships.
Disclaimer: This content was partially produced with the help of AI tools and was reviewed and published by Benzinga editors.
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