AI pioneer Hinton warns super-intelligent AI threatens jobs & humans

Geoffrey Hinton, a 2024 Nobel Prize winner and AI pioneer, is warning that AI is developing a super-intelligence capability that poses a threat to humans. He warns that AI will cause mass-unemployment, increased cyber-attacks as well as possible biological warfare mounted by an AI technology run for profit and for military aggrandizement.

For example, a 2025 MIT report projects that AI can already replace 20 million American jobs. As a result, customers service jobs in freight forwarding, trucking, warehousing, retail and shipping could be on the AI chopping block in 2026.

In May 2023, Hinton announced his resignation from Google to be able to "freely speak out about the risks of AI" He has voiced concerns about deliberate misuse by malicious actors, technological unemployment, and existential risk from artificial general intelligence. He noted that establishing safety guidelines will require cooperation among those competing in use of AI in order to avoid the worst outcomes. After receiving the Nobel Prize, he called for urgent research into AI safety to figure out how to control AI systems smarter than humans.

Quantum Computers

This threat is accelerating with the development of next generation quantum computers, in which China is a major investor. These computers will soon be able to break any and all existing cryptography.

In an interview with Nikkei Asia, Jesse Van Griensven, adjunct professor at the University of Waterloo in Canada and executive chairman of quantum cybersecurity company EigenQ, used a bank robbery analogy to describe the scale of quantum computing: "With today's computers, somebody hacks your account and your money is gone. With quantum computers, the money from the whole bank is gone."

Such machines could disable airports, power plants, telecom networks and military forces, reducing a country like the United States "to the Stone Age" without firing a single bullet, he said.

Hinton’s Warnings

In an interview with British entrepreneur Steven Bartlett on his “Diary of a CEO” podcast, Hinton warned that AI’s ability to surpass humans and develop super-intelligent capability could be “ten to twenty years away.” Asked what life would be like for humans afterwards, Hinton replied: “Ask a chicken.”

Hinton described several AI threats:

1. AI increases cyber-attacks: “Let's talk about all the risks from bad human actors using AI…There's cyber-attacks. So, between 2023 and 2024, they increased by about a factor of 12, 1,200%.” For example, a San Francisco-based company, Anthropic, disclosed that in August its Claude code was used by one threat actor to launch attacks impacting 17 organizations with minimal technical expertise.
2. AI threatens jobs. Hinton believes that companies are already shedding jobs and replacing humans with AI in areas such as call centers and customer service. This threat is validated by a 2025 Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) study that found that artificial intelligence can already replace 11.7% of the U.S. labor market, in areas including finance, health care, and professional services. There are currently 171 million Americans in the civilian labor force, according to the Federal Reserve. That means that 20 million Americans could currently lose their jobs due to AI. Customer service jobs in the maritime and transportation sectors could be especially vulnerable to elimination by AI.
3. Advances in medical research have the downside that AI can also be used to develop COVID-type viruses and perhaps more lethal ones: “One guy who knows a little bit of molecular biology, knows a lot about AI, and just wants to destroy the world. You can now create new viruses relatively cheaply using AI, and you don't have to be a very skilled molecular biologist to do it.”

Unfortunately, a common theme in many of the outcomes Hinton describes is that AI applications increase profitability for companies even though the long-term AI developments can harm people: “So, once you get to a situation where to make more profit, the company starts doing things that are very bad for society, like showing you things that are more and more extreme. That's what regulations are for. The whole point of regulations is to stop them from doing things to make a profit that hurt society. And we need strong regulation.”