'Godfather of AI' reveals the only strategic way society can stop it wiping out humanity

Dr Geoffrey Hinton has previously warned about the dangers of artificial intelligence and how it could impact humanity.

Hinton has said that it is important to keep AI ‘submissive’ to prevent things from going wrong, and it is easy to imagine the many ways things could take a turn for the worse.

Hinton has earned the title of ‘Godfather of AI’ because of his own pioneering work in developing artificial neural networks, which are considered key to machine learning. As a result, he has a vested interest in the industry.

As any decent science fiction film has warned, without considerable guidance, there isn’t a lot to prevent new forms of technology ultimately bringing great harm and issues to humanity.

When it comes to artificial intelligence, there remain a lot of fears on how this tool will be used in the years to come.

Dr Geoffrey Hinton has warned changes need to be made to protect humanity (Getty Stock Image)

Currently, a hot topic remains on whether AI assistants or chatbots are too left/right leaning and, in turn, could sway the minds of individuals.

And with the massive uptick in AI capabilities in recent years, more people are calling for systems or checklists that can help prevent future harm to humanity.

Most interestingly, Hinton has argued that AI needs to have ‘maternal instincts’ built into it to help prevent it from harming us in the future, especially as it becomes more powerful and smarter than humanity.

He said: “[AI systems] developing artificial neural networks.

“The other subgoal is to get more control. There is good reason to believe that any kind of agentic AI will try to stay alive.”

While it might sound a little bit out there, Hinton has defended his thinking and gone into more detail on why he thinks a maternal instinct might prove beneficial for future AI.

Dr Geoffrey Hinton has said incorporating a maternal instict could help safeguard humanity with AI(JONATHAN NACKSTRAND/AFP via Getty Images)

Speaking at an industry conference in Las Vegas, Ai4, he said mothers have instincts and social pressure to care for their babies, and a similar thing may need to be implemented with this new technology.

He said: “The right model is the only model we have of a more intelligent thing being controlled by a less intelligent thing, which is a mother being controlled by her baby.

“We need AI mothers rather than AI assistants. An assistant is someone you can fire. You can’t fire your mother, thankfully."

However, he did admit that it is not yet clear how this could be achieved or how successful it would be in practice.

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