Overview

• In a Financial Times interview, the AI pioneer said companies will use AI to replace workers, lifting profits for a few while leaving most people poorer.
• He cautioned that control over systems far smarter than humans may be unattainable, with superintelligence plausibly five to twenty years away.
• He dismissed universal basic income as an adequate fix, saying cash transfers would not solve the loss of purpose and dignity created by widespread job loss.
• He proposed training models with protective “motherly instincts” so machines would be conditioned to avoid harming humans.
• He criticized upbeat narratives from tech leaders and urged urgent preparation, comparing the challenge to planning for a clearly approaching alien arrival.