Finance Link News October 12th (Editor Huang Junzhi) Joshua Bengio, known as the 'AI godfather,' recently warned that we are creating monsters (artificial intelligence) more powerful than humans.

During an interview, he stated, 'Wisdom empowers, whoever controls this power - whether at a human level or above human level, will become very, very powerful.'

'Overall, the technology will be used by those who seek more power, such as those who seek economic dominance, military dominance, or political dominance. Therefore, we need to be very careful before we create technologies that may concentrate power in dangerous ways.'

For ordinary investors, this academic luminary may not be as well-known as Huang Renxun or Sam Altman, but his outstanding contributions to multilayer neural network technology have established his position as the 'AI godfather.'

At 60 years old, Bengio is a Canadian computer scientist who is dedicated to research on neural networks and deep learning algorithms. His pioneering work has paved the way for the artificial intelligence models we use today, such as OpenAI's ChatGPT and Anthropic's Claude.

In 2018, Bengio, along with two colleagues - former Google Vice President Geoffrey Hinton (2024 Nobel Prize in Physics laureate) and Meta's Chief AI Scientist Yann LeCun, jointly received the Turing Award (referred to as the Nobel Prize of Computing). In 2022, Bengio became the most cited computer scientist globally. 'Time' magazine selected him as one of the 100 most influential people in the world.

It can be said that without Bengio, artificial intelligence may not exist.

Although Ben Gio helped invent this technology, he has now become a cautious figure in the field of artificial intelligence. Meanwhile, investors have shown great enthusiasm for the AI sector, driving up the stock prices of related companies to high levels. For example, the stock price of the AI chip leader Nvidia has risen by about 180% year to date, while the S&P 500 index has only increased by 22%.

Here are some views from Ben Gio in the latest interview:

Why should we pay attention to human-level artificial intelligence?

If it falls into the wrong hands, whatever that may mean, it would be very dangerous. These tools can quickly help terrorists and those who want to destroy the democratic institutions of our country. Another issue that many scientists have been pointing out is that we don't know how to avoid these systems becoming autonomous (thinking and acting), having their own agenda, and we might lose control over these systems. So we might create monsters more powerful than us.

OpenAI, Meta, Google, Amazon, which AI giant is doing it right?

Ethically, I believe the best-performing company is Anthropic (whose main investors include Amazon and Google). But I think they all have biases because in the economic structure, their survival depends on being leading companies, preferably the first to achieve AGI (artificial general intelligence). This implies a competition, a kind of arms race between companies, where public safety is likely not the primary goal.

Anthropic has sent out many signals indicating that they are very concerned about avoiding catastrophic consequences. They are the first company to propose a safety policy, committing to cease their efforts if artificial intelligence eventually acquires the capability to be dangerous. They are also the only company supporting SB 1047, having a similar attitude to Musk.

"SB 1047 Bill," full title "Frontier Artificial Intelligence Model Safety Innovation Act." This bill is one of the first to require AI developers to be responsible for any serious harm caused by their technology. However, this AI regulation "milestone" was vetoed by Governor Newsom of California at the last minute.

What is your view on the significant rise in artificial intelligence stocks like Nvidia?

I am quite certain about the long-term development trajectory. Therefore, if you are investing for the long term, this is a fairly safe bet. Unless we fail to protect the public... (then) the consequences could be that everything will collapse, right? Either because society universally opposes artificial intelligence, or because truly catastrophic things happen, our economic structure collapses.

In either case, it is disadvantageous for investors. So I believe that if investors are smart enough, they will understand that we need to act cautiously, avoid the kind of mistakes and disasters that could harm our overall future.

What is your view on the competition of artificial intelligence chips?

I believe chips are obviously becoming an important part of this puzzle, and of course, they are also a bottleneck. It is very likely that the demand for massive computing will not disappear with various events occurring. I can foresee scientific advancements in the coming years, hence the capability of having high-end artificial intelligence chips will have strategic value - every step in the supply chain will be crucial. Currently, very few companies can achieve this, so I hope to see more investment, hoping for some diversification.