'Godfather of AI' Geoffrey Hinton warns AI could wipe out humanity within 10 years

Godfather of AI Geoffrey Hinton says it is “not unreasonable” to predict that artificial intelligence (AI) could wipe out humanity within the next decade. The Nobel-winning computer scientist puts the probability at around 10%, while acknowledging there is no reliable way to predict it. Hinton said the window in which AI could pose an existential threat to humanity is also shrinking.“A 10% chance seems not an unreasonable estimate to me, but nobody really knows how to give a sensible estimate,” Hinton said during a recent interview on the BBC’s Newsnight. He explained that it is difficult to put an exact figure on the risk because society has never encountered a technology that “could soon be smarter than us.”He added that dismissing the possibility would be a mistake. “It would be very foolish to say there was like a 1% chance,” he said.