AI Debate Heats Up As 'Father' Of Tech Brushes Off 'Godfather's' Warnings: 'You Cannot Stop It'

While artificial intelligence pioneer, Geoffrey Hinton, echoed concerns related to the technology expressed by the likes of Elon Musk, another pioneer in the field says that its acceleration cannot and should not be stopped. 

What Happened: Taking a different stance from some of his peers, including Hinton, who is also known as the “Godfather of AI,” Jürgen Schmidhuber, once described as the “Father of AI,” believes the rise of AI is inevitable and the world should strive to accept it, reported The Guardian. 

Although some big tech names like Musk and Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak expressed their concerns and advocated a slowdown in the advancement of AI systems “more powerful” than OpenAI’s GPT-4, Schmidhuber argues that such calls are misdirected.

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“You cannot stop it,” said Schmidhuber, adding, “Surely not on an international level because one country might have really different goals from another country. So, of course, they are not going to participate in some sort of moratorium.”

“But then I think you also shouldn’t stop it. Because in 95% of all cases, AI research is really about our old motto, which is to make human lives longer and healthier and easier,” he stated. 

Schmidhuber further stated that he “would be much more worried about the old dangers of nuclear bombs than about the new little dangers of AI that we see now.”

Schmidhuber’s claim to the title of the father of AI is not undisputed. He has also faced severe criticism within the AI community over his positive outlook on the speed of technological advancement, as some argue that it could be unwarranted and risky, the report noted. 

Why It’s Important: For the unversed, Hinton made headlines last week for resigning from Alphabet Inc. GOOG GOOGL after 10 years to have more freedom of expression regarding AI. 

Hinton previously said that risks posed by AI to humanity could be more pressing than those of climate change.

Meanwhile, Jaron Lanier, known as the “godfather of virtual reality,” has dismissed fears of AI taking over the world, likening such notions to those portrayed in films like “The Matrix.” However, he acknowledged the legitimacy of concerns about the current state of AI.

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