Artificial intelligence pioneer Geoffrey Hinton says it91Ƶs getting more difficult to tell videos, voices and images generated with the technology from material that91Ƶs real 91Ƶ but he has an idea to aid in the battle.
The increased struggle has contributed to a shift in how the British-Canadian computer scientist and recent Nobel Prize recipient thinks the world could address fake content.
91ƵFor a while, I thought we may be able to label things as generated by AI,91Ƶ Hinton said Monday at the inaugural Hinton Lectures.
91ƵI think it91Ƶs more plausible now to be able to recognize that things are real by taking a code in them and going to some websites and seeing the same things on that website.91Ƶ
He reasons this approach would verify content isn91Ƶt fake and imagines it could be particularly handy when it comes to political video advertisements.
91ƵYou could have something like a QR code in them (taking you) to a website, and if there91Ƶs an identical video on that website, all you have to do is know that that website is real,91Ƶ Hinton explained.
Most Canadians have spotted deepfakes online and almost a quarter encounter them weekly, according to an April survey of 2,501 Canadians conducted by the Dais, a public policy organization at Toronto Metropolitan University.
Deepfakes are digitally manipulated images or videos depicting scenes that have not happened. Recent deepfakes have depicted Pope Francis in a Balenciaga puffer jacket and pop star Taylor Swift in sexually explicit poses.
The Hinton Lectures are a two-night event the Global Risk Institute is hosting this week at the John W. H. Bassett Theatre in Toronto.
The first evening saw Hinton, who is often called the godfather of AI, take the stage briefly to remind the audience of the litany of risks he91Ƶs been warning the public over the last few years that the technology poses. He feels AI could cause or contribute to accidental disasters, joblessness, cybercrime, discrimination and biological and existential threats.
However, the bulk of the evening was dedicated to a talk from Jacob Steinhardt, an assistant professor of electrical engineering and computer sciences and statistics at UC Berkeley in California.
Steinhardt told the audience he believes AI will advance even faster than many expect but there will be surprises along the way.
By 2030, he imagines AI will be 91Ƶsuperhuman,91Ƶ when it comes to math, programming and hacking.
He also thinks large language models, which underpin AI systems, could become capable of persuasion or manipulation.
91ƵThere is significant headroom, if someone were to try to train (them) for persuasiveness, perhaps either an unscrupulous company or a government that cared about persuading its citizens,91Ƶ Steinhardt said. 91ƵThere91Ƶs a lot of things you could do.91Ƶ
He told the audience he sees himself as a 91Ƶworried optimist,91Ƶ who believes there91Ƶs a 10 per cent chance the technology will lead to human extinction and a 50 per cent chance it will cause immense economic value and 91Ƶradical prosperity.91Ƶ
Asked at a later news conference about Steinhardt91Ƶs 91Ƶworried optimist91Ƶ label, Hinton called himself a 91Ƶworried pessimist.91Ƶ
91ƵThere91Ƶs research showing that if you ask people to estimate risks, normal, healthy people way underestimate the risks of really bad things 91Ƶ and the people who get the risks about right are the mildly depressed,91Ƶ Hinton said.
91ƵI think of myself as one of those, and I think the risks are a bit higher than Jacob (Steinhardt) thinks, let91Ƶs say around 20 per cent.91Ƶ
Hinton also used the news conference to share more about what he has done with his half of the 11 million Swedish kronor (about C$1.45 million) he and Princeton University researcher John Hopfield received when they won the Nobel Prize for physics earlier in the month.
Hinton said he has donated half his share of the award to Water First, a Creemore, Ont., organization training Indigenous communities in how to develop and provide access to safe water systems.
He initially mulled giving some of the money to a water organization actor Matt Damon is involved with in Africa, but then he said his partner asked him 91ƵWhat about Canada?91Ƶ
That led Hinton to discover Water First. He said he was compelled to donate to it because of the land acknowledgements he hears at the start of many events.
91ƵI think it91Ƶs great that they91Ƶre recognizing (who lived on the land first), but it doesn91Ƶt stop Indigenous kids getting diarrhea,91Ƶ he said.
Hinton previously said some of his winnings will also be directed to an organization that provides jobs to neurodiverse young adults.