For Geoffrey Hinton, the godfather of AI, machines are closer to humans than we think
Geoffrey Hinton left his position at Google last year so he could speak more freely about artificial intelligence, a field he helped to pioneer and is increasingly critical of. He spoke with The Globe about where he believes AI is headed. Laura Proctor/The Globe and Mail
As researchers at the world’s most advanced AI companies prepared to sign a public letter last week warning of frightening new developments in artificial intelligence, Geoffrey Hinton, the godfather of AI, e-mailed to ask if I wanted to have lunch. He had supported and given input on but not signed the famous letter. “I want to talk to you about sentience in machines,” he said.
Of course I said yes. I once tried to interview him, for a documentary, and he said no. But we live in the same neighbourhood, not far from the University of Toronto where Prof. Hinton helped invent the brutally powerful neural networks that make ChatGPT and its AI cousins possible; he occasionally calls to ask me out for a meal.
I never know what we’ll talk about, or how much I’ll understand. It makes for a thrilling, if slightly terrifying, luncheon experience.
