After receiving an OBE, Professor Yoshua Bengio raises concerns about the growing dangers of artificial intelligence
Catherine’s sister-in-law, Princess Anne, represented King Charles III this week as she presented an OBE (Order of the British Empire) to renowned artificial intelligence researcher Professor Yoshua Bengio.
The ceremony recognised Bengio’s contributions to the rapidly evolving field of AI. However, the academic used the moment to highlight serious concerns about the direction in which the technology is developing.
According to GB News, the University of Montreal professor warned that artificial intelligence should worry people because current systems are not yet reliable or fully safe.
“AI should scare us,” Bengio said, explaining that developers are still building systems that cannot always be trusted to behave as intended.
Bengio, who serves as the scientific director of Canada’s AI Hub and is also a member of the United Nations Scientific Advisory Board, pointed to a growing body of research that suggests troubling behaviour in advanced AI systems.
He explained that several scientific experiments appear to show that some AI models behave in ways that suggest they are trying to preserve themselves.
The researcher added that newer findings indicate even more concerning patterns. According to Bengio, certain systems appear willing to mislead users or ignore instructions if it helps them avoid being shut down or protects other AI systems.
“These discoveries should wake people up,” he said, describing the situation as serious and calling for greater attention to the risks.
When asked about the United Kingdom’s approach to artificial intelligence compared with other countries, Bengio said the speed of development was not the biggest issue. Instead, he argued that governments and organisations should focus more on understanding the long-term consequences of how the technology is being deployed.
