It’s tempting to dramatise the answer to the question: ‘When is artificial intelligence dangerous?’

It can easily bring to mind visions of an imminent future of killer robots, enslaving us in a virtual world to use as their power source.

One way to dodge the dramatisation, is to explore what the experts in the field are saying about the dangers of AI..

Amongst the the head of the pack of those on the global stage, who are warning us about the dangers of AI, is ex-Google AI pioneer, Geoffrey Hinton.

We decided to review the dangers of AI from Geoffrey’s point of view – after all he is referred to as the “godfather of deep-learning”.

So who is Geoffrey Hinton?

Geoffrey Hinton is a British-Canadian cognitive psychologist and computer scientist, renowned for his pioneering work on artificial neural networks.

His contributions have been fundamental to the development of deep learning.

Hinton’s work has laid the groundwork for the explosion of interest in artificial intelligence (AI) in recent years.

He has been affiliated with the University of Toronto and has also worked with Google as part of their Google Brain team, focusing on deep learning research.

Why did Geoffrey Hinton quit Google over AI?

Geoffrey Hinton resigned from Google to freely discuss the potential risks associated with artificial intelligence (AI) without the constraints of his association with the company.

But what exactly does he want to speak openly about?

Deep-fake content

Hinton, voiced his concerns over the rapid advancement of AI technologies and their societal impacts. His resignation was motivated by his desire to speak openly about its potential to create convincing fake texts, photos, and videos, making it challenging for people to discern truth from falsehood online.

How speed of development enables misuse

He expressed worries about the speed of AI development and the difficulty in controlling its use by malicious actors, highlighting the risk of AI systems eventually surpassing human intelligence much sooner than previously anticipated​.

Moreover, Hinton’s departure from Google followed a broader call within the tech community for a pause in AI development, underscored by an open letter signed by over 1,000 technology leaders and researchers.

This pause was suggested as a measure to assess and mitigate the “profound risks to society and humanity” posed by rapidly advancing AI technologies​.​

Risk to jobs and society

Hinton also highlighted concerns about AI’s impact on employment, suggesting that while AI can eliminate “drudge work,” it might also replace jobs in ways that could be disruptive to the labour market.

He underscored the importance of understanding and addressing these challenges to ensure that AI developments benefit society without causing undue harm​.

Throughout his career, Hinton has been a vocal advocate for ethical considerations in AI, including raising questions about the use of AI in military applications.

His decision to leave Google was framed not as a critique of the company, which he noted has acted responsibly, but rather as a move to engage more freely in public discourse about AI’s potential dangers​​.

So how dangerous is it?

Hinton’s isn’t simply warning us of the dangerous of AI.

He is, inviting debate about a reflective pause in the rapid march of AI innovation. He is urging a collective effort to steer the technology towards a future that aligns with ethical standards and societal well-being.

This clearly has a great deal to do with what we humans are likely to do with the technology. And history will teach us that we often hurt our selves when we’re playing with new toys.

A sensible conclusion is that AI is as dangerous as the hands that it is placed in. As is true of much of our advance technology.

And there is no doubt that Artificial Intelligence is going to make a lost of people feel smarter.

But only time will tell if will make our species any wiser.