'Godfather of AI' speaks on threat of tech surpassing humanity.

Geoffrey Hinton believes AI is already having experiences akin to humans'

TORONTO, Canada -- Artificial intelligence continues to evolve at an astounding pace. How will the world change when it enters an age in which human intelligence has been surpassed in all fields? Nikkei reporters interviewed Professor Emeritus Geoffrey Hinton of the University of Toronto, known as the "Godfather of AI Research," at his home in Canada to discuss the future of AI and humanity.

These are excerpts from Nikkei's interview with Hinton, edited for length and clarity.

Q: Why did you leave Google, even though you were responsible for AI development?

A: I talked to my boss at Google about retiring because I was 75, and about being worried about the existential threat of AI. I also wanted to be free to talk publicly about it.

He said "Well, why don't you stay at Google and work on the existential threat?" But I wanted to retire. If you work for a company, even if the company doesn't explicitly tell you what to say, you're not really free to say what you believe. You have to think about the interests of the company.