An artificial intelligence pioneer says he left Google to speak freely about the dangers of the technology after realizing computers could be much faster than he and other experts expected.
“I’m leaving so I can talk about the dangers of AI without thinking about the implications for Google,” Geoffrey Hinton wrote on Twitter.
In an interview with The New York Times, Hinton said he was concerned about AI’s ability to create convincingly fake images and text, creating a world where people “can no longer know what is real.”
The technology could quickly displace workers and become an even greater danger as new behaviors are learned.
“This idea that things can actually become smarter than people — some people believe that,” he told the New York Times. “But most people thought it was outrageous. I thought it was outrageous. I thought it was 30 to 50 years or more. Obviously, I don’t think so anymore.
Hinton tweeted that Google itself “acted very responsibly” and denied that he resigned to criticize his former employer.
Alphabet Inc.’s Google did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment. The Times quoted Google chief scientist Jeff Dean as saying: “We remain committed to taking a responsible approach to artificial intelligence. We are constantly learning to understand emerging risks, while also boldly innovating.