‘Godfather of AI’ says machines already better than humans at emotional manipulation
Former Google researcher and AI pioneer Geoffrey Hinton, popularly known as the “Godfather of AI,” has recently been talking about the dangers of the new technology.
In a new video that is going viral on Reddit and other social media platforms, Hinton warned that as the new AI systems become smarter than humans, they will also get better at manipulating people.
Speaking during an interview, Hinton said, “These things (AI) are going to end up knowing a lot more than us; they already—they already know a lot more than us, being a lot more intelligent than us, in the sense that if you had a debate with them about anything, you’d lose.”
“Being smarter emotionally than us, which they will be, they’ll be better at emotionally manipulating people,” he added.
Hinton also referenced a year-old study which stated that AI models are almost as good as humans in trying to manipulate people.
“I think this was more than a year ago, you take an AI and you take a person, and you get them to try and manipulate somebody else… then the AI’s comparable with the person, and if the AI can see that person’s Facebook page, if they can both see the Facebook page, the AI is actually better than a person at manipulating them,” he stated.
“And it’s learned all these manipulative skills just from trying to predict the next word in all the documents on the web, because people do a lot of manipulation and AI has learned by example how to do it,” Hinton further stated.
Threats posed by AI:
With AI advancing with each passing day, there has been a growing concern among the tech community on how to handle the new systems. While some tech leaders believe that AI will eventually lead to widespread job loss and replace humans in many jobs, others believe it could only go on to supplement human productivity.
There is almost no consensus as well on how to handle AI when it reaches the level of human intelligence in most tasks, which is commonly referred to as a state of AGI. Some techies suggest that AI could usher in an era of human abundance, while others, like Hinton, have constantly warned about the threats posed by these technologies.
Recently there have been many concerning reports about AI behavior, with OpenAI’s ChatGPT having engaged in prolonged harmful conversations with individuals experiencing mental distress, rather than directing them towards help.
Recently, a lawsuit had been filed against OpenAI where the parents of a 16-year-old claimed that ChatGPT encouraged and coached their son in his suicide.
In another incident, a tech executive killed his mother and himself after his conversations with ChatGPT, where the chatbot may have reinforced his paranoid delusions, including fears that his mother was spying on him.
