The Godfather of AI's Unsettling Solution: Instincts Save Us from Superintelligent Machines?
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A Call to Action Before It's Too Late
Recently, in a keynote at the Ai4 conference, Geoffrey Hinton , often called the 'Godfather of AI,' painted such a future and offered a provocative solution. Hinton believes that if AIs become vastly more intelligent than us, traditional methods of control will fail. Instead, he urges researchers to train AIs with 'maternal instincts,' a deeply embedded urge to care for and nurture humans.Why maternal instincts? Hinton points out one striking fact: throughout nature and culture, the only scenario where a more intelligent being is consistently controlled by a less intelligent one is remarkably when a mother allows her baby to 'control' her through care and love. For Hinton, this relationship holds a vital clue: only if we program powerful AIs to value our well-being above all else do we stand a chance at peaceful coexistence.This suggestion is not a mere philosophical musing. Hinton openly warned that 'if (AI) is not going to parent me, it's going to replace me.' The stakes, in his mind, are existential. Left unchecked, superintelligent AI could either ignore, control, or even eliminate humanity, drawn by goals and incentives unaligned with our own survival. Hinton places the probability of a catastrophic AI-driven extinction at a chilling 10% or more within the next 30 years a risk too grave to ignore.What's most alarming is that Hinton's forecast for superintelligent AI sometimes called AGI (Artificial General Intelligence) has shortened dramatically. He once speculated we had several decades before facing this challenge. Now, he warns the world might have only five to twenty years to get it right, as AI development accelerates at an unprecedented clip.Yet, how exactly to instil something like maternal love or empathy in a machine remains an open problem. Hinton admits he doesn't know the technical path forward but insists we must try. He stresses that almost all resources currently flow into making AI more powerful, not safer: a lopsided race that overlooks existential risk.The lesson from the godfather of AI is stark: humanity's best and perhaps only survival strategy is to nurture the machines we build, teaching them to care before they become ungovernable forces. Hinton urges governments and companies to invest urgently in researching 'AI alignment,' the science of making sure machines have our best interests at heart.For technologists, policy makers, and the public, it's a critical time to ask: what values do we want in our AI 'children' before they outgrow us? Because if we wait until they're smarter than us, it will be too late.
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The Godfather of AI's Unsettling Solution: Instincts Save Us from Superintelligent Machines?
Shorter Timelines, Bigger Stakes Live Events A Call to Action Before It's Too Late Recently, in a keynote at the Ai4 conference, Geoffrey Hinton , often called the 'Godfather of AI,' painted such a future and offered a provocative solution. Hinton believes that if AIs become vastly more intelligent than us, traditional methods of control will fail. Instead, he urges researchers to train AIs with 'maternal instincts,' a deeply embedded urge to care for and nurture maternal instincts? Hinton points out one striking fact: throughout nature and culture, the only scenario where a more intelligent being is consistently controlled by a less intelligent one is remarkably when a mother allows her baby to 'control' her through care and love. For Hinton, this relationship holds a vital clue: only if we program powerful AIs to value our well-being above all else do we stand a chance at peaceful suggestion is not a mere philosophical musing. Hinton openly warned that 'if (AI) is not going to parent me, it's going to replace me.' The stakes, in his mind, are existential. Left unchecked, superintelligent AI could either ignore, control, or even eliminate humanity, drawn by goals and incentives unaligned with our own survival. Hinton places the probability of a catastrophic AI-driven extinction at a chilling 10% or more within the next 30 years a risk too grave to most alarming is that Hinton's forecast for superintelligent AI sometimes called AGI (Artificial General Intelligence) has shortened dramatically. He once speculated we had several decades before facing this challenge. Now, he warns the world might have only five to twenty years to get it right, as AI development accelerates at an unprecedented how exactly to instil something like maternal love or empathy in a machine remains an open problem. Hinton admits he doesn't know the technical path forward but insists we must try. He stresses that almost all resources currently flow into making AI more powerful, not safer: a lopsided race that overlooks existential lesson from the godfather of AI is stark: humanity's best and perhaps only survival strategy is to nurture the machines we build, teaching them to care before they become ungovernable forces. Hinton urges governments and companies to invest urgently in researching 'AI alignment,' the science of making sure machines have our best interests at technologists, policy makers, and the public, it's a critical time to ask: what values do we want in our AI 'children' before they outgrow us? Because if we wait until they're smarter than us, it will be too late.
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