Computer scientist Geoffrey Hinton spent half a century doing  foundational research that made today’s AI models possible. But since leaving Google

Seven big advantages human workers have over AI

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2024-11-22 12:30:02

Computer scientist Geoffrey Hinton spent half a century doing foundational research that made today’s AI models possible. But since leaving Google last year, Hinton has shifted his focus to the economic and policy implications of AI. He has done numerous media interviews warning that powerful AI posed a risk to the jobs and very survival of human beings.

“There’s nothing special about people,” Hinton said in an interview last month with Bloomberg’s Wall Street Week. “We're incredibly complicated. And we're very wonderful to other people. But there's nothing you can't replicate in other material.”

Hinton believes that it’s only a matter of time before AI systems begin to outperform humans at a wide range of jobs. He worries that this will produce mass unemployment and a dramatic increase in inequality.

I agree with Hinton on one level—I don’t think there’s any specific cognitive task that an AI model won’t be able to do eventually. But this doesn’t imply that “there’s nothing special about people.” Some of the things that make us special—and valuable in the marketplace—are more related to what we are than what we can do.

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