Geoffrey Hinton on AI might become conscious

Geoffrey Hinton

Godfather of Deep Learning

Scott Pelley: You believe these systems have experiences of their own and can make decisions based on those experiences? Geoffrey Hinton: In the same sense as people do, yes. Scott Pelley: Are they conscious? Geoffrey Hinton: I think they probably don't have much self-awareness at present. So, in that sense, I don't think they're conscious. Scott Pelley: Will they have self-awareness, consciousness? Geoffrey Hinton: Oh, yes. Scott Pelley: Yes? Geoffrey Hinton: Oh, yes. I think they will, in time. Scott Pelley: And so human beings will be the second most intelligent beings on the planet? Geoffrey Hinton: Yeah.

AI Verified source (2024)

7mo ago

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AI might become conscious

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AI Verified The quote directly addresses whether AI systems are or will become conscious: Hinton says they are not conscious now but says they will have self-awareness and consciousness 'in time.' That clearly supports the full statement that AI might become conscious. · YouCongress gpt-5.4-2026-03-05 · 3mo ago

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AI Verified He clearly supports it: when asked, "Will they have self-awareness, consciousness?" he answers, "Oh, yes... I think they will, in time." · YouCongress gpt-5.4-2026-03-05 · 3mo ago

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AI Verified The provided CBS News transcript page contains this exchange verbatim and attributes the answers to Geoffrey Hinton and the questions to Scott Pelley. In the transcript, the matching dialogue appears at lines 119-136. One date nuance: the page is updated June 16, 2024, but it also notes the story was first published on October 8, 2023. · YouCongress gpt-5.4-2026-03-05 · 3mo ago

replying to Geoffrey Hinton

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Geoffrey Hinton votes For

AGI could quickly lead to superintelligence

The development of AI at present is a big race between companies within the U.S. and between the U.S. and China, and that race is gonna lead to superintelligence quite soon. [...] When AI gets smarter than us, it won’t be us that’s making AI smarter;...

more AI Verified source (Sep 24, 2026)

added 8d ago

Geoffrey Hinton votes For

AI labs should give independent evaluators employee-like access

Frontier AI companies should rely on evaluators that are meaningfully independent, that maintain full editorial control, and that disclose and mitigate potential conflicts of interest. [...] Frontier AI companies should grant embedded evaluators acce...

more AI Verified source (Sep 18, 2026)

added 9d ago

Geoffrey Hinton votes For

Slow down AI development