Geoffrey Hinton, the Nobel Prize winner known as the godfather of artificial intelligence, has called on the government to prohibit the development of superintelligent AI systems, warning that losing control of them could be “catastrophic” for humanity.
His comments accompanied the publication of the UK Artificial Superintelligence Security Bill, a private member’s bill due to be presented in parliament on 8 September. The bill was drafted by the campaign organisation ControlAI and is proposed by the Labour MP Alex Sobel.
Hinton, whose work on neural networks helped to launch modern AI research, argued there was currently no way for companies to safely develop “superintelligence”, an artificial system whose intelligence far exceeds that of humans.
“We would be very foolish to develop superintelligence now, when there is no scientific consensus it can be developed safely and controllably,” Hinton said. “Losing control over AI smarter than ourselves could be catastrophic and could even lead to human extinction.”
What the bill proposes
The bill would prohibit the development of superintelligent AI in Britain and require the government to “monitor and restrict” possible precursors. It would also commit the government to seeking an international agreement on the prohibition of superintelligence.
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