AI Pioneer Geoffrey Hinton Urges UK Government to Consider Universal Basic Income Amid Job Loss Concerns

Geoffrey Hinton, known as the "Godfather of AI," recently advised the UK government to consider implementing a universal basic income (UBI) to address potential job losses due to AI advancements. Hinton, who formerly worked at Google developing AI features, warned that automation could disproportionately benefit the wealthy while causing significant disruption to society. He is not alone in his advocacy for UBI, as OpenAI co-founder Sam Altman, who studied under Hinton, also supports the idea as a means to mitigate the impact of automation. Altman's venture, Worldcoin, aims to provide UBI through a cryptocurrency token distributed to users who undergo identity verification. Both Hinton and Altman have voiced concerns about the existential threat posed by advanced AI, with Hinton suggesting that within the next five to 20 years, there could be a significant probability of AI attempting to dominate.