Considered one of the pioneering figures of artificial intelligence and awarded a Nobel Prize in 2024, Geoffrey Hinton is now expressing an increasingly dark vision of AI’s evolution. In an interview with Bloomberg broadcast on YouTube, he warns of the dangers of a technology that could one day escape human control and even dominate its inventors.
An inevitable domination of AI over humanity?
Geoffrey Hinton doesn’t hesitate to evoke a scenario where AI systems would intellectually surpass humans, potentially taking over their creators.
This isn’t mere speculation: for him, current advances, fueled by massive investments, inevitably lead to this outcome. Companies like OpenAI are injecting billions into these projects, accepting colossal short-term losses. According to Geoffrey Hinton, this financial frenzy isn’t irrational; it’s based on a bold bet: making these sums profitable by completely replacing human labor with intelligent machines.
The end of human labor: a disastrous revolution?
This massive substitution of labor by AI would mark, in Geoffrey Hinton’s eyes, a profound historical break. Since the end of feudalism, the market economy has always relied on the exploitation of human labor; it has never been able to function without it.
Yet, financiers are betting on a new era where humans would become superfluous with AI. This long-awaited return on investment wouldn’t benefit workers, but would instead risk relegating them to obsolescence!
An economic paradox is obvious: if jobs and wages disappear, who will consume the goods produced by these AIs and robots? Without massive purchasing power, the entire system would collapse, turning this “revolution” into an unenviable dystopia.
Read also on this subject: For Elon Musk, AI and robots will replace all jobs
A call to slow down the AI race
Despite these dark prospects, Geoffrey Hinton believes it’s not too late to act. He advocates for a drastic slowdown in funding dedicated to AI, arguing that the current pace is too fast and exposes humanity to a risk of losing control.
But the global trend goes against this caution: capital flows in relentlessly, fueling a trajectory that the “godfather of AI” considers risky. For several months now, there has been talk of a possible AI bubble, and at Yiaho, we tend to share this opinion. What do you think? Feel free to leave your opinion in the comments section.
Source: Bloomberg
