• By Benjamin Pimentel | Examiner staff writer |
• May 1, 2023 Updated May 2, 2023 (SFExaminer.com)

The AI pioneer who blazed the trail for a breakthrough approach to artificial intelligence has quit his post at Google.

Geoffrey Hinton, who served as a Google vice president and has been called the “godfather of AI” for his work on deep learning, has left Google to speak out on the dangers of artificial intelligence.

The New York Times first reported Hinton’s departure. Hinton tweeted Monday to clarify his reason for leaving, saying the report “implies that I left Google so that I could criticize Google.

“Actually, I left so that I could talk about the dangers of AI without considering how this impacts Google,” Hinton said in a tweet. “Google has acted very responsibly.”

The New York Times report actually focused on Hinton’s concerns about the progress of AI and his regrets about the role his work played in that advance. “I console myself with the normal excuse: If I hadn’t done it, somebody else would have,” he told the newspaper.

Google’s search engine technology became a leading driver of machine learning, the AI method that trains computers to solve problems by figuring out patterns.

Hinton is considered a pioneer of a new approach called deep learning, which uses artificial neural networks that can pick up, record, and process data and signals that are then organized the way human memory operates. With deep learning, a computer can mimic how the human brain works.

Deep learning paved the way for what’s now called generative AI, tools that let users create sophisticated content, including video and photographs. It was also critical in the rise of ChatGPT, the chatbot launched in November 2022 that unleashed a frenzy over AI.

But the AI craze has triggered serious concerns about the use of the technology. In March, more than 1,000 technology leaders and experts signed an open letter calling for a pause in AI development to give the industry and policymakers time to come up with “a set of shared safety protocols for advanced AI design and development that are rigorously audited and overseen by independent outside experts.”

But other experts are skeptical of the campaign, especially given the intense industry competition triggered by the ChatGPT frenzy. Google recently merged two major AI labs in a clear reaction to Microsoft’s stronger alliance with OpenAI, which created ChatGPT.

Hinton’s Twitter post defending Google’s approach underscores the debates within the tech industry on how AI should be developed. Last year, Google fired a software engineer who said an AI chatbot the company was developing was sentient and had the ability to express human emotions and thoughts.

Another AI pioneer who signed the letter calling for a pause in AI development — Louis Rosenberg, CEO of Unanimous AI — praised Hinton’s decision to leave Google.

“His words have an impact across the field,” he told The Examiner. “I applaud him for leaving Google if that is what he feels he needs to do in order to speak freely about the dangers.”

“There is nothing more important right now than for pioneering technologists to speak up about the AI risks they see, for the dangers come from many different directions and perspectives,” Rosenberg said. “Some dangers are obvious. Some are not. And all are amplified considerably when the largest companies in the world are engaged in an all out arms-race to hit the market first with next generation systems. These are risky times.”

In a statement, Google Chief Scientist Jeff Dean said, “Geoff has made foundational breakthroughs in AI, and we appreciate his decade of contributions at Google. I’ve deeply enjoyed our many conversations over the years. I’ll miss him, and I wish him well!”

Benjamin Pimentel

Benjamin Pimentel is The Examiner’s senior technology reporter.