Humanity is at a ‘turning point’ with AI, Geoffrey Hinton tells CBS News's 60 Minutes

Geoffrey Hinton, often dubbed the “godfather of artificial intelligence,” explained the potential benefits – and risks – of the technology he helped bring into existence on CBS News’s 60 Minutes.

A University Professor Emeritus at the University of Toronto, Hinton told correspondent Scott Pelley about his decision earlier this year to sound the alarm about the existential threat posed by the rapid development of large language models such as ChatGPT and Google’s PaLM.

The cognitive psychologist and computer scientist, whose research contributions set the stage for the current acceleration of AI development, says he has no regrets because of the technology’s enormous potential benefits. But he warns that humanity is at a “turning point” in determining AI’s trajectory – and that the decisions we make today could have far-reaching consequences for the future.

“I think my main message is there's enormous uncertainty about what's (going to) happen next,” Hinton told the newsmagazine program. “These things do understand. And because they understand, we need to think hard about what's going to happen next. And we just don't know.”

Watch the 60 Minutes interview