“Godfather of AI” warns that today’s AI systems are becoming strategically dishonest – Yoshua Bengio says labs are ignoring warning signs

From the article

As top labs race to build an AI master race, many turn a blind eye to dangerous behaviors – including lying, cheating, and manipulating users – that these systems increasingly exhibit. This recklessness, driven by commercial pressure, risks unleashing tools that could harm society in unpredictable ways.

Artificial intelligence pioneer Yoshua Bengio [warns](https://www.ft.com/content/2b3ce320-2451-45c4-a15c-757461624585) that AI development has become a reckless race, where the drive for more powerful systems often sidelines vital safety research. The competitive push to outpace rivals leaves ethical concerns by the wayside, risking serious consequences for society.

“There’s unfortunately a very competitive race between the leading labs, which pushes them towards focusing on capability to make the AI more and more intelligent, but not necessarily put enough emphasis and investment on [safety research],” Bengio told the Financial Times.

Bengio’s concern is well-founded. Many AI developers act like negligent parents watching their child throw rocks, casually insisting, “Don’t worry, he won’t hit anyone.” Rather than confronting these deceptive and harmful behaviors, labs prioritize market dominance and rapid growth. This mindset risks allowing AI systems to develop dangerous traits with real-world consequences that go far beyond mere errors or bias.

I always worry this is just the rich priming us for when they decide to press a button and kill a fuck load of us fossil fuel eating unemployables; we’ll all just think:

“Ahh, that damn AI has gone rogue. Just like they said! Why didn’t we listen?’

How many godfathers of AI are there? I thought that title belonged to Geoffrey Hinton

Lol they aren’t ignoring anything they are the ones writing the code