Yoshua Bengio: AI’s risks must be acknowledged

James Copnall, presenter of the BBC’s Newsday, speaks to Yoshua
Bengio, the world-renowned computer scientist often described as
one of the godfathers of artificial intelligence, or AI.


Bengio is a professor at the University of Montreal in Canada,
founder of the Quebec Artificial Intelligence Institute - and
recipient of an A.M. Turing Award, “the Nobel Prize of
Computing”.


AI allows computers to operate in a way that can seem human, by
using programmes that learn vast amounts of data and follow
complex instructions. Big tech firms and governments have
invested billions of dollars in the development of artificial
intelligence, thanks to its potential to increase efficiency, cut
costs and support innovation.


Bengio believes there are risks in AI models that attempt to
mimic human behaviour with all its flaws. For example, recent
experiments have shown how some AI models are developing the
capacity to deceive and even blackmail humans, in a quest for
their self-preservation.


Instead, he says AI must be safe, scientific and working to
understand humans without copying them. The Interview brings you
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Presenter: James Copnall Producers: Lucy Sheppard, Ben Cooper
Editor: Nick Holland


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(Image: Yoshua Bengio. Credit: Craig Barritt/Getty)