For many, the seminal work of computer scientist Geoffrey Hinton and his students on deep learning established the University of Toronto as a birthplace for modern AI. Today, AI is rapidly becoming a key tool in our lives, embedded into activities from work and leisure to social policy, the justice system and even warfare. But AI’s meteoric rise, while offering huge benefits to society, is creating significant concerns, with world leaders and AI experts – including Hinton himself – warning of multiple dangers and calling for greater regulation of the technology.
AI’s risks range from the disruption of employment and embedding systemic bias into decision making, to the spread of disinformation and the existential threat of a “superintelligence” acting beyond human control.
