In a series of online articles, blog posts, and posts on X/LinkedIn over the past few days, AI pioneers (sometimes called “godfathers” of AI) Geoffrey Hinton, Andrew Ng, Yann LeCun, and Yoshua Bengio have ignited a spirited debate over the existential risks of AI by publicly commenting on each other’s posts. The debate has divided Hinton and Bengio, who express deep concerns about AI’s existential risks, or x-risks, while Ng and LeCun believe these concerns are exaggerated, or even a conspiracy theory concocted by Big Tech firms to consolidate power.
This debate marks a departure from the united front of AI positivity they have presented since leading the deep learning ‘revolution’ in 2012. Just a year ago, LeCun and Hinton defended deep learning against critics who claimed it had reached its limits in interviews with NeuralNation.
Hinton responds to claims of a Big Tech conspiracy
Today, Hinton, who left his role at Google in May to freely voice his concerns about AI risks, posted on X in response to recent comments made by computer scientist Andrew Ng. Ng, who co-founded Google Brain in 2011 and made significant contributions to image recognition, claimed that the idea of AI causing human extinction is a conspiracy propagated by Big Tech. Hinton countered Ng’s statement by highlighting his decision to leave Google in order to openly discuss the existential threat posed by AI.
