John Hopfield, Nobel Prize winner in Physics for his research on artificial intelligence, warns of “very worrying” recent advances in AI

He is one of the pioneers of artificial intelligence, but that does not prevent him from observing its development with a certain anxiety. John Hopfield, American scientist who has just won the Nobel Prize in physics for his work on AI, judged, on Tuesday October 8, the recent technological advances in this area “very worrying”.

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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 gathering by video from the United Kingdom, the 91-year-old researcher said that during his lifetime he had witnessed the rise of two powerful, but potentially dangerous, technologies : biological engineering and nuclear physics. “We are used to technologies that are not just good or bad, but can go both ways”he said.

“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 that AI asks”he continued. Even though modern AI systems appear to be “absolute wonders”their functioning is still poorly understood, which is “very, very worrying” according to him.

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“Capabilities beyond what you can imagine”

“That is why I myself, just as I think Geoffrey Hinton [co-lauréat du Nobel], strongly advocate for better understanding” he continued, adding that the domain would “develop abilities beyond those you can currently imagine”.

With the meteoric rise of artificial intelligence and the fierce race between companies, critics point out that this technology is evolving faster than scientists can understand.

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“You don’t know if something spontaneous but unwanted is hidden in the work”noted John Hopfield. He brought up the example of “ice-nine,” an imaginary material invented by science fiction author Kurt Vonnegut in his 1963 book The Cat’s Cradle. Developed to help soldiers forced to navigate the 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'”said John Hopfield.

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The World with AFP

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