AI Godfather Hinton: Industry Overfocuses on Short-Term Profits, Superintelligence May Pose Extinction Risks

Most tech industry leaders haven't truly thought about AI's final direction. AI godfather Geoffrey Hinton points out that the industry's core driver is short-term profit rather than long-term impact. Business owners push research for short-term returns, and researchers focus on immediate problems (like image recognition or generating realistic videos) instead of goals related to humanity's future.

Hinton has long warned about AI risks: the probability of human extinction after superintelligence reaches 10%-20%. He distinguishes two types of risks: bad actors abusing AI (such as fake videos and cyberattacks) and AI itself becoming a bad actor. For solutions, content can be marked via traceability authentication to curb deepfakes, but each type of problem needs separate resolution; for superintelligence risks, he suggests designing AI with empathy mechanisms, referencing the mother-infant relationship model.