Jeffrey Hinton, dubbed the “godfather of artificial intelligence,” revealed, Monday, that he left his job at Google last week, in order to speak publicly about the “risks” of the technology he helped develop.
Hinton’s work on neural networks has shaped the artificial intelligence systems that power many of today’s technology products. Hinton, through his part-time work at Google for a decade, contributed to the technology giant’s efforts to develop artificial intelligence, but since then, he has had concerns about this technology and his role in its development, reports Al-Rai daily.
Speaking to The New York Times, Hinton said, “I console myself with the well-known excuse: If I hadn’t done it, someone else would have done it.”
Hinton attributed his decision to leave Google to his desire to speak freely about the dangers of artificial intelligence, and not to criticize the company, according to what he said in a tweet on Monday.
Google’s chief scientist, Jeff Dean, commenting on Hinton’s decision, said, “He has made major breakthroughs in artificial intelligence,” expressing his appreciation for “a decade of contributions to Google; we will remain committed to a responsible approach to artificial intelligence,” Dean said in a statement to CNN. We are constantly learning to understand emerging risks while innovating boldly.”
Hinton is not the first Google employee to be alerted to the dangers of artificial intelligence. Last July, the company fired an engineer who claimed that an undetected system of intelligence had become conscious, while many in this technical field strongly refused to confirm what the engineer said.
