Geoffrey Hinton, the man widely regarded as the “godfather of AI” for his groundbreaking work behind many of today’s AI systems, has said on more than one occasion how the technology could potentially wipe out humanity if its development isn’t handled with care.
But while pondering such a profound possibility, OpenAI’s popular ChatGPT chatbot recently surprised Hinton in a most unexpected way: His girlfriend used it to end their relationship.
“She got ChatGPT to tell me what a rat I was,” he told the Financial Times in a recent interview, admitting that he was surprised by her move to call on the AI tool regarding such a delicate matter.
“She got the chatbot to explain how awful my behavior was and gave it to me,” the AI pioneer said, adding, “I didn’t think I had been a rat, so it didn’t make me feel too bad.”
In fact, getting AI-powered chatbots like ChatGPT to compose breakup texts, or even ask for advice on how to end a relationship, appears to be nothing new, with an increasing number of people consulting AI on a whole raft of life issues.
Hinton, who last year received the Nobel Prize in Physics for work in the 1980s that led to machine learning with artificial neural networks, quit Google in 2023 after working there for a decade on various AI projects.
Now 77, the AI expert is a University Professor Emeritus in the Department of Computer Science at the University of Toronto, an institution he’s been closely affiliated with since 1987.
Hinton still worries about how a superintelligent version of AI could cause major problems for humanity in the future, suggesting to the FT that those developing the technology today — OpenAI, Microsoft, Meta, and Google among them — should try to shape it so that it mothers us “because the mother is very concerned about the baby, preserving the life of the baby.” In other words, it needs to have maternal instincts.
On the matter of when AI will actually gain superintelligence — the goal of many of the top AI companies today — Hinton says that “a lot of scientists agree between five and 20 years, that’s the best bet.”
He also predicts that AI “is going to create massive unemployment and a huge rise in profits,” with the technology making “a few people much richer and most people poorer.” For that he blamed “the capitalist system,” not AI.
And with all of his knowledge, the AI specialist can only say that “we have no idea” how the technology will develop, adding that it “may be amazingly good, and it may be amazingly bad.”
On a brighter note, Hinton said he’s now met a new partner. Here’s hoping that the new relationship doesn’t also end with a ChatGPT-worded breakup.
Apple is less than a day away from launching its highly anticipated OLED MacBook Pro with a touch-sensitive screen. But it appears that the upgrade is going to cost a pretty penny. According to a report by Bloomberg, Apple is reportedly eyeing a starting price of $2,899 for the 14-inch MacBook Pro, while the 16-inch version could start at $3,399 in the US.
"At $2,899, the 14-inch model would mark the highest starting price for a new MacBook Pro model, surpassing the $2,799 Apple charged for a 17-inch version introduced in 2006," says the report. The report claims that Apple is targeting a minimum price hike of $400 for its upcoming redesigned 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro models.
I've spent a good amount of time digging into the spec sheet of the new M6 MacBook Pro (14-inch), and for all intents and purposes, this is a classic Apple "chip and connectivity" refresh. It's not a full redesign. The chassis, Liquid Retina XDR panel, speakers, ports, and battery, all of them carry over unchanged.
However, the M6 brings more cores, stronger on-device AI, higher memory bandwidth on the larger configs, and modern wireless. Here’s the practical rundown of what actually improved, and whether those gains are worth your money.
Two new highly requested iCloud plugins just got added to ChatGPT, giving people who rely on Apple’s Mail and Calendar services a way to search emails, check appointments, and manage their schedules directly through the chatbot.
The integration is rolling out to all ChatGPT plans, including the free tier. You can access it on the web, desktop, and iOS.