「ＡＩのゴッドファーザー」、米グーグルを去る　「危険性」に警鐘

【ワシントンＡＦＰ＝時事】人工知能（ＡＩ）研究の第一人者とされるカナダ・トロント大学のジェフリー・ヒントン名誉教授が、米グーグルでの職を退いたことが明らかになった。米メディアが１日報じた。自らが技術の基盤を築いたＡＩの危険性について自由に発言するためと説明している。（写真は対話型人工ＡＩ「チャットＧＰＴ」のロゴ）
　同氏はインタビューの中で、ＡＩ分野の進歩は「社会と人類に深刻なリスク」をもたらすと警告。「５年前と今を比べてほしい。これだけの違いがこのまま進めば、恐ろしいことになる」と語っている。
　また大手ＩＴ企業間の競争が、各社を危険なほど急速なＡＩ開発に走らせていると指摘。ＡＩによる雇用奪取や偽情報の拡散に警鐘を鳴らすとともに、「悪質な人物による悪用を防ぐ方法はなかなか見当たらない」と懸念した。
　ＡＩは人間の労働を補完するために用いられてきたが、「チャットＧＰＴ」のようなチャットボット（自動会話プログラム）の急速な発展・普及により、雇用が危険にさらされる可能性があるとヒントン氏。ＡＩは「雑務をなくす」が、「それ以上の仕事も奪うかもしれない」と語った。
　また文章や画像を作る生成ＡＩの危険性についても警告。偽の文章や画像がインターネット上にあふれ、一般の人々は「何が真実なのか分からなくなる」と憂慮した。
　今年３月にはチャットＧＰＴをさらに強化した「ＧＰＴ－４」がリリースされたことを受け、専門家ら１０００人以上がＡＩ開発の一時停止を求める公開書簡を発表した。署名には米電気自動車（ＥＶ）大手テスラのイーロン・マスク最高経営責任者や、米アップルの共同創業者スティーブ・ウォズニアック氏も名を連ねた。
　当時まだグーグルに在籍していたヒントン氏はこの署名には加わらなかったが、ニューヨークタイムズ紙のインタビューでは、科学者は「制御可能だと判断できるまで、手を広げるべきではない」と語っている。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2023/05/09-16:52）

A computer scientist often dubbed the godfather of artificial intelligence has quit his job at Google to speak out about the dangers of the technology, US media reported Monday.
Geoffrey Hinton, who created a foundation technology for AI systems, told The New York Times that advancements made in the field posed profound risks to society and humanity.
Look at how it was five years ago and how it is now, he was quoted as saying in the piece, which was published on Monday.
Take the difference and propagate it forwards. That's scary.
Hinton said that competition between tech giants was pushing companies to release new AI technologies at dangerous speeds, risking jobs and spreading misinformation.
It is hard to see how you can prevent the bad actors from using it for bad things, he told the Times.
In 2022, Google and OpenAI -- the start-up behind the popular AI chatbot ChatGPT -- started building systems using much larger amounts of data than before.
Hinton told the Times he believed that these systems were eclipsing human intelligence in some ways because of the amount of data they were analyzing.
Maybe what is going on in these systems is actually a lot better than what is going on in the brain, he told the paper.
While AI has been used to support human workers, the rapid expansion of chatbots like ChatGPT could put jobs at risk.
AI takes away the drudge work but might take away more than that, he told the Times.
The scientist also warned about the potential spread of misinformation created by AI, telling the Times that the average person will not be able to know what is true anymore.
Hinton notified Google of his resignation last month, the Times reported.
Jeff Dean, lead scientist for Google AI, thanked Hinton in a statement to US media.
As one of the first companies to publish AI Principles, we remain committed to a responsible approach to AI, the statement added.
We're continually learning to understand emerging risks while also innovating boldly.
In March, tech billionaire Elon Musk and a range of experts called for a pause in the development of AI systems to allow time to make sure they are safe.
An open letter, signed by more than 1,000 people including Musk and Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak, was prompted by the release of GPT-4, a much more powerful version of the technology used by ChatGPT.
Hinton did not sign that letter at the time, but told The New York Times that scientists should not scale this up more until they have understood whether they can control it.