Synopsis: As artificial intelligence reshapes industries, the man known as the “Godfather of AI,” Geoffrey Hinton, warns of a troubling future where billionaires like Elon Musk grow even wealthier while millions of workers face unemployment. In a candid revelation, Hinton explains why AI’s greatest danger isn’t the technology itself, but the way society rewards automation over human effort. His cautionary words expose a deep imbalance at the heart of the AI revolution.
AI Won’t Just Change the World – It Might Make Musk Richer and You Jobless”
Yes, the competition in the field of artificial intelligence will make tech billionaires like Elon Musk even richer, while automation will put millions of people out of work, warned Geoffrey Hinton, known as the "Godfather of AI." He is also a Nobel laureate.
Although he acknowledges that AI has the potential to do “incredibly good things” in education and healthcare, he said that the reason AI poses a threat is that society is structured that way. So, people like Musk will become even richer, while many others will be unemployed. Musk doesn’t care. He said that it’s not AI’s fault, but the way society is organized. He added that if we want to make money from AI, we will have to replace human labor.
In an interview with Bloomberg Television’s "Wall Street Week" program, Nobel laureate Hinton shared his concerns about job losses due to AI and the potential loss of control over AI systems in various areas.
“My concern is how to make money from this. It’s either charging a fee for using chatbots or replacing human jobs. A company makes a profit when workers are replaced by something cheaper. This is the main driver behind the growth of AI,” he said.
“If there were no jobs that were eliminated before, you could say that there would be new jobs in call centers. But now, even those jobs are disappearing. Where those people will go is not clear. Some economists say that major changes will create new jobs. I don’t know if that will happen. Big companies are adopting AI and replacing workers because that’s how they make a profit,” he added.
Hinton’s comments come amid widespread layoffs at tech companies globally, with Amazon recently laying off 14,000 employees. None of the companies has admitted that AI is the cause of the layoffs. However, experts believe that AI is driving the decline in hiring and staff numbers.
Although Hinton is one of the world’s leading AI researchers, his previous prediction that AI would replace radiologists has not yet come true. A recent study shows that the number of radiology professionals will increase by 2055.
