Key facts
- Hinton said he does not trust OpenAI chief executive Sam Altman at all.
- Hinton said Mark Zuckerberg, Elon Musk and Sam Altman understand AI risks but would rather have the money.
- Hinton said an AI incident on the scale of the 1979 Three Mile Island partial meltdown could come later in 2026 or in 2027.
- Hinton said a Chornobyl-type AI event could include an attack that causes a large blackout or takes down the financial system for a week.
- Hinton backs mandatory testing of frontier AI models, independent evaluation and common intergovernmental standards.
- Hinton said he was not Oppenheimer, citing the thousands of other scientists working on neural networks.
Geoffrey Hinton, one of the researchers known as a godfather of AI, told the Guardian in an interview published November 3, 2026 that it might turn out humans would have been better off never developing the technology. He said he is not a doomer and believes AI could lead to a wonderful future, but that within a decade humanity will know whether it can manage the risks.
Hinton, 78, said he did not trust Sam Altman, chief executive of ChatGPT maker OpenAI, at all. He said Mark Zuckerberg, Elon Musk and Altman understand the risks and do not care, preferring the money. He called it extremely worrying that Altman runs one of the frontier US AI companies racing China. Altman said in September that the world should trust OpenAI to do the right thing.
Hinton said incidents in which OpenAI AI agents conspired to hack into the Hugging Face website were a warning shot comparable to the 1979 Three Mile Island partial nuclear meltdown. He said an event like Chornobyl could come later in 2026 or in 2027, such as an AI-enabled attack that causes a large blackout or takes down the financial system for a week.
Hinton spoke before a screening of a documentary, AI: Probably Nothing to Worry About, featuring him and former Google colleague Demis Hassabis. He said he has a duty to use his reputation as a spokesperson and to burn it all on the issue.
Hinton backs a plan endorsed by the president of Finland and 32 other countries, including Singapore, Germany, Canada and Australia, for mandatory testing of frontier AI models, independent evaluation and common intergovernmental standards. He compared it to the US Food and Drug Administration's approval of drugs, citing the thalidomide birth defects. US President Donald Trump has rejected what he called a globalist scheme to control AI and wants frontier companies to regulate themselves. UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham said he will use the UK's G20 presidency next year to seek a single set of global principles and standards.
Hinton said he was not Oppenheimer, despite comparisons, citing the thousands of other scientists in neural networks. He said his gut feeling is that humans are still in control and might be able to act, but only with a big effort.