There doesn’t seem to be much godfatherly love in the AI world these days.<\/p>\n
Geoffrey Hinton, the ex-Google employee known as the “Godfather of AI” for his work on neural networks, has been vocal about the risks of the technology<\/a>. He said on a recent episode of the “One Decision” podcast that “most” people at tech companies understand the risks, but don’t act on them.<\/p>\n “Many of the people in big companies, I think, are downplaying the risk publicly,” Hinton said on the episode, which aired on July 24. But he mentioned one tech leader who is attuned to the potential dangers of the technology.<\/p>\n “Demis Hassabis<\/a>, for example, really does understand about the risks, and really wants to do something about it,” he said.<\/p>\n Hassabis is the CEO of Google DeepMind<\/a>, the company’s main AI lab. He cofounded DeepMind in 2010 and sold it to Google in 2014 for $650 million, under the caveat that the tech giant would create an AI ethics board. A Nobel Prize<\/a> winner, Hassabis had for years hoped that academics and scientists would lead the AI scramble. Now, he’s at the center of Google’s push for AI dominance<\/a>, and some company insiders previously told Business Insider they think he might be in the running for CEO.<\/p>\n In February, Hassabis said that AI poses long-term risks<\/a> and warned that agentic systems could get “out of control.” He has pushed for having an international governing body to regulate the technology. Late last month, protesters demonstrated outside DeepMind’s London office<\/a> to demand more AI transparency.<\/p>\n