Godfather of AI warns of job losses due to AI adoption

The “godfather of AI,” Geoffrey Hinton, has issued a stark warning that artificial intelligence will likely lead to massive unemployment as companies worldwide accelerate the adoption of automation tools.

While speaking at Georgetown University, Geoffrey Hinton asserted that major Big Tech companies invest in data centers and chips driven by one clear goal: replacing human workers with cheaper AI systems to boost profits.

Hinton criticized the industry for prioritizing short-term gains over scientific progress, a trend he believes is driving the displacement of human roles.

A recent report from BearingPoint reveals that many organizations are experiencing workforce overcapacity due to early adoption of AI. Approximately half of the global executives surveyed estimated that their current workforce is at overcapacity by 10% to 19%, indicating possible forthcoming layoffs.

Geoffrey Hinton’s perspective on AI’s impact differs from the more optimistic views expressed by figures such as Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, who believes that AI will transform jobs rather than eliminate them. Hinton likens predicting the long-term effects of AI to “driving in fog”—while the immediate future is somewhat clear, the long-term path remains uncertain.

Despite this uncertainty, short-term signals of workforce disruption are becoming impossible to ignore. Experts recommend that business leaders act with urgency by investing in reskilling programs and establishing governance frameworks to guide the transition and maintain stability in the coming “agentic age.”

About Geoffrey Hinton

Geoffrey Hinton, often called the “Godfather of AI,” is a British-Canadian computer scientist and cognitive psychologist. His groundbreaking contributions to deep learning and neural networks, including the development of backpropagation, Boltzmann machines, and deep belief nets, have profoundly advanced artificial intelligence. His work earned him the 2018 Turing Award and the 2024 Nobel Prize in Physics. Despite his significant role in AI development, Hinton left his position at Google in 2023 to speak freely about his concerns regarding the potential dangers of AI, specifically warning about risks such as job displacement and the rise of superintelligence.