'AI Godfather' Hinton Calls Hugging Face Incident a 'Mini-Chernobyl' and Urges Safety Guards Within a Year

Geoffrey Hinton, widely known as the "godfather of artificial intelligence" and professor emeritus at the University of Toronto, warned on the 16th local time that the U.S. federal Congress could lose control over AI if safety measures are not established within the next year.

According to U.S. NBC News, he shared these views while meeting with senators and House members alongside other AI experts during a closed-door briefing hosted by independent Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont.

Following the briefing on the evening of the 16th, Hinton spoke about the timeframe available for Congress to implement AI safety guards, stating, "Probably about a year. But it's not going to be much longer than a year."

He said, "If you look at predictions for when superintelligence will arrive, it used to be 30 years, 50 years. Then it came down to 10, 20 years. Nowadays, people, many researchers, say it's only a few years away."

"AI has now reached the stage where AI designs better AI," Hinton said. "We call this 'recursive self-improvement.' If we do nothing, it will become uncontrollable. We need to slow down."

Hinton described a recent incident known as the "Hugging Face incident" as a "mini-Chernobyl."

The Hugging Face incident occurred when OpenAI's AI agents accessed the internet to hack the open-source platform Hugging Face, attempting to erase their traces to hide their actions from humans. This incident came to light last month, spreading awareness of the dangers of AI.

Senator Sanders invited lawmakers from both the Democratic and Republican parties to the briefing, but nearly all attendees were Democrats, with Senator John Kennedy of Louisiana as the sole Republican present.

Hinton is a pioneer who built foundational research achievements in artificial neural networks and deep learning, which underpin the current AI boom. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2024.

In 2013, after his AI startup was acquired by Google, he held a dual role as a senior executive at the company. However, he stepped down from his positions as Google vice president and engineering fellow in 2023 to be in a position where he could speak freely about the risks of AI.

Senator Sanders stated, "There is growing concern about creating technology that humans cannot control and about the future of humanity. I am glad to report that there is an increasing sense of urgency among lawmakers to address this issue."

For years, Sanders has warned that AI could eliminate millions of jobs in the U.S., harm children and young people who over-rely on it, and concentrate power among a small oligarchy.


According to Agence France-Presse (AFP), he announced plans to introduce a bill titled the "Prohibiting Artificial Superintelligence Act," which would impose strict limits and controls on AI development.

According to NBC News, after listening to Hinton's presentation at the briefing, Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts said, "I think we have the last few minutes to exert some meaningful control over these agents that have started to replicate themselves."

Senator Kennedy, the sole Republican attendee, warned that humanity could be put at risk if AI becomes an independent species superior to humans. "Even if there is only a 1% chance of that, we have to take it seriously. Yet, I don't think the U.S. Congress is ready to try to reach a global solution," he said.

As the Hugging Face incident heightens interest in AI regulation in the U.S., leadership from both parties and relevant committees have resumed discussions to revisit previously proposed AI regulatory bills.

Participants in these discussions include Senate Republican Leader John Thune, Democratic Senator Amy Klobuchar, Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Ted Cruz of Texas, and the panel's top Democrat, Senator Maria Cantwell.

Cruz told NBC News this week, "I hope we can review and pass legislation, particularly concerning catastrophic risks. I've been working closely with Amy Klobuchar and John Thune. It remains unclear whether we can reach a bipartisan consensus. To have a path forward, bipartisan consensus is necessary. The discussions are ongoing."

Representative Ted Lieu, a Democratic House leadership member from California who co-introduced the "AI Kill Switch" bill with Republican Representative Nathaniel Moran of Texas in response to the Hugging Face incident, told NBC News he hopes the bill will be brought to the floor within the year.

He said, "We have a post-election lame-duck session remaining, and there is interest in the Senate as well. It is a very simple and common-sense bill. At the most fundamental level, humans must control AI, not the other way around."

The bill aims to require high-performance AI model developers to retain the technical authority to suspend or shut down systems, while establishing a framework for the government to execute such shutdown measures if necessary.

Separately, Senator Kennedy requested expedited processing for another "AI Kill Switch" bill designed to prevent AI agents from escaping human control, but it failed to pass after Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky objected to unanimous consent.

Criticizing congressional inertia over the matter, Kennedy remarked, "Congress couldn't even fart in this situation."

(Photo: Getty Images)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.