Scientist warns of threat from artificial intelligence, comparing it to a predator

British-Canadian scientist Geoffrey Hinton, known as the godfather of artificial intelligence, said that AI could become smarter than humans and called on the global community to work together to develop it to prevent a potential threat to humanity. Speaking at a conference in Shanghai, the Nobel Prize winner in physics stressed that it is impossible to completely abandon AI, as it already brings significant benefits in various fields. However, in his opinion, the key task is to ensure that artificial intelligence does not strive for dominance.

Hinton compared AI to a tiger cub that people are trying to tame: “Keeping a tiger cub as a pet is a bad idea. There are two options: train it to never want to eat you, or get rid of it.” The scientist noted that the first path is preferable - it is necessary to develop methods that will prevent AI from being hostile to people. At the same time, he called on countries to share research despite differences in interests in order to jointly minimize risks.

Particular attention, according to Hinton, must be paid to bridging the gap between “teaching AI to be smart” and “teaching AI to be kind.” If artificial intelligence surpasses human intelligence but is not ethically constrained, the consequences could be catastrophic. The scientist warned that without global cooperation, humanity risks facing unpredictable threats from technologies that were originally created for its benefit.

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