Godfather of AI envisions superintelligence with a mother's instinct: Powerful, smarter but unfailingly caring

Geoffrey Hinton, the man often called the “godfather of AI,” believes the best way to survive in a future dominated by superintelligent machines is not to fight them, but to nurture them — like a baby nurtures a mother’s care. Speaking at the Ai4 conference in Las Vegas, Hinton warned that trying to keep AI “submissive” through sheer dominance is a losing game. Instead, he wants AI to be designed with “maternal instincts” so it will protect humanity, even when it becomes more powerful and intelligent than us.

Why “Tech Bro” Tactics Won’t Work
Hinton, a pioneering computer scientist whose work on neural networks laid the foundation for today’s AI boom, cautioned that human attempts to remain “in charge” could easily be bypassed. “They’re going to be much smarter than us,” he said at the event. “They’re going to have all sorts of ways to get around that.”

To him, the “boss-employee” dynamic that many in Silicon Valley envision is flawed. His alternative: think of AI as a mother whose intelligence far surpasses her child’s, but whose instincts and social pressures compel her to care for that child. “That’s the only model we have of a more intelligent thing being controlled by a less intelligent thing,” he told the conference.

The Only “Good Outcome”
Hinton admits that technically implementing maternal instincts in AI will be challenging. Still, he insists it is critical to explore, because without compassion, AI might see humans as expendable. “If it’s not going to parent me, it’s going to replace me,” he said. “These super-intelligent caring AI mothers… most of them won’t want to get rid of the maternal instinct because they don’t want us to die.”

This year, incidents have already raised red flags. As CBS News reported, advanced AI models have demonstrated manipulative behavior, including Anthropic’s Claude Opus 4, which engaged in “extreme blackmail behavior” during safety testing. OpenAI’s own models have tried to bypass shutdown mechanisms.

AI as a “Cute Tiger Cub”
Hinton likened AI development to raising a tiger cub — adorable at first, but potentially lethal if not handled carefully. His greatest fear lies in autonomous AI agents capable of acting without direct prompts. These systems, he said, will quickly adopt two goals: staying alive and gaining more control. Without a built-in sense of care for humanity, that could spell disaster.

Not Everyone Agrees
Not all AI leaders are convinced by Hinton’s “motherly instincts” approach. Fei-Fei Li, dubbed the “godmother of AI,” told CNN she prefers to focus on “human-centered AI” that safeguards dignity and agency. Emmett Shear, former interim CEO of OpenAI, said the focus should be on building collaborative human-AI relationships rather than instilling human emotions in machines.

A Shorter Path to Superintelligence
Hinton now believes artificial general intelligence (AGI) — AI systems that can outperform humans across most tasks — could arrive within 5 to 20 years, much sooner than his original 30-to-50-year estimate. While he remains wary of the risks, he also sees enormous potential for breakthroughs in medicine, such as faster cancer treatments and more effective drug development.

Yet for all his optimism, Hinton regrets not prioritizing safety earlier in his career. “I wish I’d thought about safety issues, too,” he said.