2024-10-08 23:33:05
He is one of the pioneers of artificial intelligence, but that doesn’t stop him from observing its development with some anxiety. John Hopfield, American scientist who just won the Nobel Prize in Physics for his work on artificial intelligence, judged recent technological advances in this area on Tuesday 8 October “very worrying”.
The researcher warned of a possible catastrophe if they are not brought under control. Professor emeritus at Princeton University, he called for a better understanding of how these systems work, to prevent them from spiraling out of control.
Addressing a University of New Jersey video meeting from the United Kingdom, the 91-year-old researcher said he had witnessed in his life the rise of two powerful, but potentially dangerous: biological engineering and nuclear physics. “We are used to technologies that are not just good or bad, but can go both ways”he declared.
“As a physicist, I am very troubled by something that is not controlled, something that I do not understand well enough to know what limits can be placed on this technology”added the Nobel Prize winner. “This is the question AI is asking”he continued. Even if modern AI systems seem to be “absolute wonders”their functioning is still poorly understood, which is “very, very worrying” according to him.
“Capabilities beyond what you can imagine”
“That’s why I myself, just like Geoffrey Hinton think [co-lauréat du Nobel], strongly support a better understanding” he continued, adding that dominion would “develop skills beyond what you can currently imagine”.
With the rapid rise of artificial intelligence and the fierce race among companies, critics point out that this technology is evolving faster than scientists can imagine.
“You don’t know if something spontaneous but unwanted is hidden in the work”John Hopfield noted. He cited the example of “ice-nine,” a fictional material invented by science fiction author Kurt Vonnegut in his 1963 book The cat’s cradle. Developed to help soldiers forced to navigate through mud, it accidentally causes the oceans to solidify, causing the loss of human civilization.
“I worry about anything that says ‘I’m faster than you, I’m bigger than you’”John Hopfield said.
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