From left, Geoffrey Hinton and Jacob Steinhardt in a composite photo.Photo by Chris Young Canadian Press/Elaine Fancy GRI

'Godfather of AI' issues a warning, while his colleague holds out hope

AI Rising: Risk vs. Reward lectures presented tales of artificial intelligence that veered wildly between humour and tragedy

by · National Post

A pessimist, an optimist and an AI walk into a lecture hall. That’s the gist of AI Rising: Risk vs. Reward, a two-part lecture delivered by Jacob Steinhardt and Geoffrey Hinton in Toronto this week.

Steinhardt is not exactly a household name. His modest title is assistant professor of statistics and electrical engineering and computer sciences at UC Berkeley in California. But he is also, as of last week, the founder and CEO of Transluce, a non-profit research lab dedicated to understanding AI systems.

What to know about Nobel laureate Geoffrey Hinton, the godfather of AITuesday, British-Canadian professor Geoffrey Hinton was one of two recipients of the 2024 Nobel Prize in Physics, alongside John Hopfield, for their work on machine learning. Here’s what to know about the 76-year-old Hinton, who is often referred to within the industry as the “Godfather of AI”Chris Knight, 08 Oct 2024Toronto prof called Godfather of AI quits Google to warn world about the dangerous technologyWhen he was a computer science professor at the University of Toronto, Geoffrey Hinton revolutionized the way machines interact with people and the world. His work was so innovative, he was scooped up by Google and dubbed the Godfather of Artificial Intelligence.Adrian Humphreys, 02 May 2023