Smart Girl Dumb Questions Wait … How Does AI Work? with “Godfather of AI” Geoffrey Hinton
Dec 2, 2025
Join Geoffrey Hinton, the 'Godfather of AI' and Nobel Prize winner, as he dives into the fascinating world of artificial intelligence. He discusses how AI compares to the industrial revolution, the differences between neural networks and logic-based AI, and the potential risks associated with powerful systems. Hinton explains how AIs learn and adapt, questioning whether they could possess self-preservation instincts. He even tackles the tantalizing idea of whether we can simply shut them down, revealing the complexities of modern technology.
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AI Threat Feels Like Science Fiction
- Geoffrey Hinton says people find the AI threat emotionally hard to take seriously because it feels like science fiction.
- He compares it to nuclear weapons and notes intelligence-as-alien is harder to grasp than a physical explosion.
Neural Nets Beat Symbolic Logic For Perception
- Hinton contrasts symbolic AI (logic) with neural-net approaches modeled on brains, arguing perception and control evolved before reasoning.
- He suggests focusing on learned connection strengths rather than preprogrammed logic yields powerful intelligence.
Digital Copies Let AIs Share Learning
- Hinton highlights digital AIs can be copied and trained in parallel, letting many instances share learning by averaging updates.
- This makes AI vastly better at sharing experience than humans, accelerating learning despite fewer connections.