Computer scientist Geoffrey Hinton expressed concerns about the potential existential risks of artificial intelligence and commented on political figures and industry leaders in an interview with The Guardian published on Oct. 13. Hinton, a prominent researcher in the field of neural networks, reiterated his warnings that advanced AI could eventually escape human control.
Hinton, who left his position at Google in 2023 to speak more openly on the subject, stated in the interview that he believes there is a “10-20% chance of AI causing human extinction in the coming decades.” He argued that the rapid pace of development requires serious consideration of such possibilities.
His remarks followed recent public disagreement with Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang. In a separate interview, Huang had criticized Hinton’s predictions, stating, “All of his predictions have been wrong. Enough predictions.” Huang added that such warnings are not “grounded on science” and can be “hurtful.”
In his interview with The Guardian, Hinton responded to this criticism by using an analogy. “If, for example, you’re told there was a 10% possibility of a bus crashing, you wouldn’t get on the bus,” he said. “The point of giving numbers is to say this is a serious risk. We don’t know how serious, but it’s serious.”
Hinton also addressed U.S. President Donald Trump’s use of the term “superintelligence” to refer to AI. Hinton stated that Trump’s application of the term, which he said has a specific technical meaning, indicated a lack of understanding of the field. During the interview, Hinton referred to Trump as “a corrupt, senile felon.”
Additionally, Hinton commented on the role of self-regulation within the AI industry. “I’m sure the oil and asbestos companies would have liked to [regulate themselves] as well,” he stated. “Do we think tobacco companies should have been allowed to design the warnings on the packets?”
Hinton’s work was foundational to the development of deep learning, a branch of AI that models its structure on the human brain. He, along with Yoshua Bengio and Yann LeCun, received the 2018 Turing Award for their contributions to the field.
During the interview, Hinton described the new generation of AI as a form of “alien beings” and suggested society has a limited time to adapt to the presence of non-human intelligence. He compared the societal shift to historical re-evaluations of humanity’s place in the universe, such as those initiated by the work of Copernicus and Darwin.
“We’re making these things and there’s nothing to stop us giving these things—which are more intelligent than us—less rights than us,” Hinton said. “I’m willing to be selfish and choose human beings.”
Hinton’s comments contribute to an ongoing debate among scientists, tech industry leaders, and policymakers about the trajectory of AI development and the necessary frameworks for its governance.
