Humanity faces a 'catastrophic' future if we don’t regulate AI, 'Godfather of AI' Yoshua Bengio says

Yoshua Bengio is one of the most-cited researchers in artificial intelligence (AI). A pioneer in creating artificial neural networks and deep learning algorithms, Bengio, along with Meta chief AI scientist Yann LeCun and former Google AI researcher Geoffrey Hinton, received the 2018 Turing Award (known as the "Nobel" of computing) for their key contributions to the field.

Yet now Bengio, often referred to alongside his fellow Turing Award winners as one of the "godfathers" of AI, is disturbed by the pace of his Technology’s development and adoption. He believes that AI could damage the fabric of society and carries unanticipated risks to humans. Now he is the chair of the International Scientific Report on the Safety of Advanced AI — an advisory panel backed by 30 nations, the European Union, and the United Nations.

Live Science spoke with Bengio via video call at the HowTheLightGetsIn Festival in London, where he discussed the possibility of machine consciousness and the risks of the fledgling Technology. Here's what he had to say.

Ben Turner: You played an incredibly significant role in developing artificial neural networks, but now you've called for a moratorium on their development and are researching ways to regulate them. What made you ask for a pause on your life's work?

Yoshua Bengio: It is difficult to go against your own church, but if you think rationally about things, there's no way to deny the possibility of catastrophic outcomes when we reach a level of AI. The reason why I pivoted is because before that moment, I understood that there are scenarios that are bad, but I thought we'd figure it out.

But it was thinking about my children and their future that made me decide I had to act differently to do whatever I could to mitigate the risks.

BT: Do you feel some responsibility for mitigating their worst impacts? Is it something that weighs on you?