- Geoffrey Hinton, former vice president of Google: “People gain self-respect in their jobs”
- He called for a universal basic income to pay rent and prevent people from dying of hunger
A technology pioneer behind the rise of AI has said citizens should receive a universal basic income to counter the devastating effect of the controversial technology on jobs.
Former Google vice president Geoffrey Hinton said AI and robots would be “very bad for society” because the millions of workers thrown out of work by technology will not enjoy the wealth resulting from the productivity boom.
Speaking to the BBC’s Newsnight, the academic said: ‘I certainly believe in a universal basic income.
“But I don’t think it’s enough because a lot of people get their self-respect from the work they do.”
He continued: “If you pay everyone a universal basic income, it solves the problem of them dying of hunger and not being able to pay their rent, but that doesn’t solve the problem of self-respect.”
Former Google vice president Geoffrey Hinton (pictured) said AI and robots would be “very bad for society” because the millions of workers left out of work by the technology will not enjoy the wealth resulting from the boom of productivity.
Speaking to the BBC’s Newsnight, the academic said: ‘I certainly believe in a universal basic income. “But I don’t think it’s enough because many people get their self-respect thanks to the work they do” (Stock photo)
The expert, who claimed to have raised the idea of universal basic income in Downing Street, warned that many mid-level manual and intellectual jobs will disappear because of AI, but predicted that plumbing could be safe from the advance of robots.
“My best bet for a safe job is plumbing, because these things (AI) are not very good at physical manipulation yet,” he said. “That will probably be the last thing they are very good at.”
His warning comes as the International Monetary Fund predicts that 40 percent of jobs worldwide will be affected by AI. And the Institute for Public Policy Research has said eight million UK jobs could be lost with the introduction of AI into the workplace.
Hinton, who resigned from Google in 2023 to sound the alarm about AI, said he was pleased that the world was now taking seriously its “existential threat” to humanity, as well as its impact on society.
“I’m very concerned about AI taking over many mundane jobs,” he said. ‘That should be a good thing. This will lead to a huge increase in productivity, which will lead to a huge increase in wealth, and if that wealth was distributed equally it would be great, but it won’t be.
‘In the systems we live in, that wealth will go to the rich and not to the people whose jobs are lost, and I think that will be very bad for society.
“It will increase the gap between rich and poor, which increases the chances of right-wing populists being elected,” he warned.
Just a few days ago, Sainsbury’s signed a deal with Microsoft to use the tech giant’s artificial intelligence tools to improve customers’ shopping experience and help staff save time to focus on key tasks.
The expert, who claimed to have raised the idea of universal basic income in Downing Street, warned that many mid-level manual and intellectual jobs will disappear because of AI, but predicted that plumbing could be safe from the advance of robots ( file photo)
Rishi Sunak is expected to say on Tuesday: “To unlock the benefits of AI, we must also work together to ensure it is safe.”
And on Tuesday, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak will co-host a virtual session of world leaders and tech chiefs with President Yoon Suk Yeol of Korea.
Sunak is expected to say: “To unlock the benefits of AI, we must also work together to ensure it is safe.”
A Whitehall source said: “Britain continues to show global leadership on one of the defining technological and social challenges of our era.” The source added: “Managed safely, AI will continue to improve our quality of life and grow our economy.”
