The transcript captures a conversation with Jeffrey Hinton, who was unexpectedly informed about his Nobel Prize win while staying at a hotel in California. Undeterred by the less-than-ideal setting, he shares his surprise and initial doubts about the authenticity of the call. Jeffrey humorously reflects on his unconventional scientific journey, highlighting his efforts to understand brain function, which inadvertently contributed to the development of impactful technologies.

Jeffrey expresses his concerns about the potential dangers of artificial intelligence, comparing it to climate change and biotechnology in terms of essential control measures needed. He underscores the importance of research and governmental intervention to ensure safety in AI development. Citing past scientific collaborations like the Asilomar conferences as a model, he stresses the need for collaborative efforts to analyze AI threats and develop safety protocols.

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Key Vocabularies and Common Phrases:

1. sang froid [sɑ̃ ˈfrwɑ] - (noun) - Calm and composure, especially in a difficult situation. - Synonyms: (composure, poise, equanimity)

Yeah, I don't think I got that much sang froid.

2. spoof [spuːf] - (noun) - A humorous imitation or a hoax. - Synonyms: (parody, hoax, imitation)

My very first thought was, how could I be sure it wasn't a spoof call?

3. bifurcation [ˌbaɪfərˈkeɪʃən] - (noun) - The division of something into two branches or parts. - Synonyms: (division, split, branching)

I think we're a kind of bifurcation point in history.

4. cumbersome [ˈkʌmbərsəm] - (adjective) - Large or heavy and difficult to carry or use; unwieldy. - Synonyms: (bulky, unwieldy, awkward)

Unfortunately, there's many more practical applications of AI than for the things like cloning that the biologists were trying to keep under control.

5. impersonators [ɪmˈpɜːrsəˌneɪtərz] - (noun) - People who pretend to be someone else to entertain or deceive. - Synonyms: (imitators, mimics, impersonators)

So it'd have to be a posse of impersonators, which is unlikely, I suppose.

6. posse [ˈpɑːsi] - (noun) - A group of people with a common purpose. - Synonyms: (group, band, team)

So it'd have to be a posse of impersonators, which is unlikely, I suppose.

7. allay [əˈleɪ] - (verb) - Diminish or put at rest. - Synonyms: (alleviate, calm, pacify)

What do you think needs to be done in order to allay the fears that you and others are expressing?

8. cloning [ˈkloʊnɪŋ] - (noun) - Producing similar populations of genetically identical individuals. - Synonyms: (duplication, replication, copy)

There are many more practical applications of AI than for the things like cloning that the biologists were trying to keep under control.

9. existential [ˌɛɡzɪˈstɛnʃəl] - (adjective) - Relating to or dealing with existence, especially human existence. - Synonyms: (pertaining to existence, philosophical, life-related)

Particularly with respect to the existential threat of these things getting out of control and taking over.

10. revolution [ˌrevəˈluːʃən] - (noun) - A forcible overthrow of a government or social order in favor of a new system. - Synonyms: (uprising, revolt, rebellion)

Is there a parallel with the biotechnology revolution when the biotechnologists themselves got together?

First Reactions | Geoffrey Hinton, Nobel Prize in Physics 2024 | Telephone interview

Hello? Oh, hello. Am I speaking with Jeffrey Hinton? You are. This is Adam Smith calling from the website of the Nobel Prize. Okay, I know who you are because I. A long time ago I noticed that they have somebody who calls up to get people's reactions. Exactly. So could we talk for just a few minutes? Yes. Thank you very much indeed. First of all, of course, many congratulations. Thank you. Where are you? Where did the news reach you? I'm in a cheap hotel in California without an Internet connection and with a not very good phone line. Phone connection. And I was planning to get an MRI scan today, but I guess I'll have to cancel that. I had no idea I'd even be nominated for the Nobel Prize in physics. I was extremely surprised.

It sounds like quite a sensible place to receive the news in a way, because you're a little bit isolated. You can collect your thoughts before the deluge of the day. Yes. On the other hand, it's 02:00 in the morning. Oh, goodness. Yes. I'm sorry. Yes. Oh, dear. I don't know if you. I think it's 03:00 by now. I don't know if you've got the sang froid to go back to bed or whether you just have to accept that the day is going to be a long one. Yeah, I don't think I got that much sang froid. Well, an utter surprise. What were your first thoughts? My very first thought was, how could I be sure it wasn't a spoof call? And how could you? It was coming from Sweden and the person had a strong swedish accent and there were several of them. Yes. So it'd have to be a posse of impersonators, which is unlikely, I suppose.

Yes. How would you describe yourself? Would you say you were a computer scientist, or would you say you were a physicist trying to understand biology when you're doing this work? I would say I'm someone who doesn't really know what field he's in, but would like to understand how the brain works. And in my attempts to understand how the brain works, I've helped to create a technology that works surprisingly well. It's notable, I suppose, that you've very publicly expressed fears about what the technology can bring. What do you think needs to be done in order to allay the fears that you and others are expressing?

So I think it's rather different from climate change. With climate change, everybody knows what needs to be done. We need to stop burning carbonous. It's just a question of the political will to do that, and large companies making big profits, not being willing to do that. But it's clear what you need to do here. We're dealing with something where we have much less idea of what's going to happen and what to do about it. And so I wish I had a sort of simple recipe that if you do this, everything's going to be okay. But I don't, in particular with respect to the existential threat of these things getting out of control and taking over, I think we're a kind of bifurcation point in history where in the next few years we need to figure out if there's a way to deal with that threat.

So I think it's very important right now for people to be working on the issue of how would we keep control. We need to put a lot of research effort into it. I think one thing governments can do is force the big companies to spend a lot more of their resources on safety research, so that, for example, companies like OpenAI can't just put safety research on the back burner. Is there a parallel with the biotechnology revolution when the biotechnologists themselves got together in those Asilomar conferences and sat down and said, there is potential danger here, and we need to be on it ourselves?

Yes, I think there are similarities with that, and I think what they did was very good. Unfortunately, there's many more practical applications of AI than for the things like cloning that the biologists were trying to keep under control. And so I think it's going to be a lot harder. But I think the biologists, what they did is a good model to look at. It's impressive that they managed to achieve agreement and the scientists did it. So, for instance, with the large language models, the thing that I suppose contributes to your fear is that you feel that these models are much closer to understanding than a lot of people say.

When it comes to the impact of the Nobel Prize in this era, do you think it will make a difference? Yes, I think it will make a difference. Hopefully, it will make me more credible when I say these things, really do understand what they're saying. Do you worry that people don't take you seriously? So there is a whole school of linguistics that comes from Chomsky that thinks that it's complete nonsense to say these things understand that they don't, they don't process language at all in the same way as we do. I think that school is wrong. I think it's clear now that neural nets are much better at processing language than anything ever produced by the Chomsky school of linguistics. But there's still a lot of debate about that, particularly among linguists.

I just wanted to come back, though, to the circumstances of you receiving this news in your hotel room in the middle of the night. In some ways a rather lonely place to hear the news, no one to turn to, to sort of hug and celebrate. Well, I'm here with my, I'm here with my partner, and she's quite excited. Okay. Yes, indeed. But for now, many, many congratulations. Thank you. Okay. Okay. Bye bye.

Artificial Intelligence, Innovation, Leadership, Nobel Prize, Safety Research, Ai Threats, Nobel Prize