Godfather of AI Throws Support Behind Elon Musk’s Lawsuit Against OpenAI
An increasingly diverse coalition is forming in opposition to OpenAI’s plan to restructure itself into a fully for-profit company.
On Monday, Encode, a youth-led advocacy organization representing young people in dozens of countries, filed an amicus brief in support of Elon Musk’s ongoing lawsuit to stop OpenAI’s corporate metamorphosis. The filing came with support from one of the biggest names in the field, Nobel and Turing prizes award-winner Geoffrey Hinton, who is often called the godfather of AI.
“OpenAI was founded as an explicitly safety-focused non-profit and made a variety of safety-related promises in its charter,” Hinton said in a statement released by Encode along with its brief. “It received numerous tax and other benefits from its non-profit status. Allowing it to tear all of that up when it becomes inconvenient sends a very bad message to other actors in the ecosystem.”
Hinton recently told the BBC he believes there is a “10 percent to 20 percent” chance that AI will lead to human extinction within the next 30 years. Previously, Hinton’s been more modest, putting the odds at just 10 percent.
