one year on
Godfather of AI Geoffrey Hinton quits Google to warn about the technology's dangers
The 75-year-old pioneering AI researcher says he left his job so he could speak freely about the dangers of the technology he helped create.
Geoffrey Hinton, the 75-year-old computer scientist often called the Godfather of AI, quits Google, saying he wanted to speak freely about the grave dangers he believes the technology poses.
In interviews, Hinton said he left his role at Google so he could speak freely about the risks of AI. He expressed regret about his life’s work and warned that the existential threat from AI is plausible enough to warrant serious concern.
The record
Said in interviews that part of him regrets his life's work and that the existential threat from AI is plausible enough to warrant serious concern.
One year later — open only if you can handle spoilers
Hinton's departure marked a watershed moment in public AI discourse, and he would spend the following years as a prominent warning voice, testifying before governments and speaking at major conferences. His departure also presaged a broader shift, as more AI researchers would leave big companies for policy and ethics roles in the coming years.