Innovations in tech and health dominate Quantum India Summit in Bengaluru
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Economic Times
5 hours ago
- Economic Times
Machines may soon think in a language we don't understand, leaving humanity in the dark: Godfather of AI sounds alarm
Synopsis Artificial Intelligence pioneer Geoffrey Hinton cautions about AI's future. Hinton suggests AI could create its own language. This language might be beyond human understanding. He expresses regret for not recognizing the dangers sooner. Hinton highlights AI's rapid learning and knowledge sharing capabilities. He urges for ethical guidelines alongside AI advancements. The goal is to ensure AI remains benevolent. Agencies Geoffrey Hinton, the "Godfather of AI," warns that AI could develop its own incomprehensible language, potentially thinking in ways beyond human understanding. Hinton, a Nobel laureate, regrets not recognizing the dangers of AI sooner, emphasizing the rapid pace at which machines are learning and sharing information. Geoffrey Hinton, often dubbed the 'Godfather of AI,' has once again sounded a sobering alarm about the direction in which artificial intelligence is evolving. In a recent appearance on the One Decision podcast, Hinton warned that AI may soon develop a language of its own — one that even its human creators won't understand. 'Right now, AI systems do what's called 'chain of thought' reasoning in English, so we can follow what it's doing,' Hinton explained. 'But it gets more scary if they develop their own internal languages for talking to each other.' He went on to add that AI has already demonstrated it can think 'terrible' thoughts, and it's not unthinkable that machines could eventually think in ways humans can't track or interpret. Hinton's warnings carry weight. The 2024 Nobel Prize laureate in Physics, awarded for his pioneering work on neural networks, has helped lay the foundation for today's most advanced AI systems, including deep learning and large language models. But today, Hinton is wrestling with what he calls a delayed realization. 'I should have realised much sooner what the eventual dangers were going to be,' he said. 'I always thought the future was far off and I wish I had thought about safety sooner.' That hindsight is now driving his advocacy. Hinton believes that as digital systems become more advanced, the gap between machine intelligence and human understanding will widen at a staggering pace. One of Hinton's most compelling concerns is how digital systems differ fundamentally from the human brain. AI models, he says, can share what they learn instantly across thousands of copies. 'Imagine if 10,000 people learned something and all of them knew it instantly — that's what happens in these systems,' he explained on BBC News . It's this kind of distributed, collective intelligence that could soon allow machines to outpace even our most ambitious understanding. AI models like GPT-4 already surpass humans in general knowledge, and though they lag in complex reasoning for now, Hinton says that gap is closing fast. While Hinton has made waves by speaking openly about AI risks, he says others in the tech world are staying quiet — at least in public. 'Many people in big companies are downplaying the risk,' he noted, despite their private concerns. One exception, he says, is Google DeepMind CEO Demis Hassabis, who has shown serious commitment to addressing those risks. Hinton's own exit from Google in 2023 was widely misinterpreted as a protest. He now clarifies, 'I left Google because I was 75 and couldn't program effectively anymore. But when I left, maybe I could talk about all these risks more freely.' With AI's capabilities expanding and governments scrambling to catch up, the global conversation around regulation is intensifying. The White House recently unveiled an 'AI Action Plan' aimed at accelerating innovation while limiting funding to overly regulated states. But for Hinton, technical advancements must go hand in hand with ethical guardrails. He says the only real hope lies in finding a way to make AI 'guaranteed benevolent' — a lofty goal, given that the very systems we build may soon be operating beyond our comprehension.
The Hindu
13 hours ago
- The Hindu
Scientists use AI-designed proteins to generate immune cells
A team of Harvard scientists has used artificial intelligence (AI), in the form of AI-designed proteins, to generate large numbers of immune cells and enhance immunity against diseases ranging from cancer to viral infections, a new research paper published in Cell said. The scientists engineered a synthetic activator of a key cellular pathway called Notch signalling, which plays a crucial role in cellular differentiation and is essential for transforming human immune progenitors into T cells. Notch signalling is a cell-to-cell communication system vital for various developmental processes and tissue homeostasis in multicellular organisms. Homeostasis is the body's way of keeping everything balanced and stable, despite what is happening around it. 'In response to viral infections or cancer, the body requires a higher production of T cells to mount an effective immune defence. However, this process depends on the activation of the Notch signalling pathway, for which no effective molecular activators have been available,' Rubul Mout from Assam, the principal scientist of the study, said. Associated with the Harvard Stem Cell Institute and the Stem Cell & Regenerative Biology Program at Boston Children's Hospital, he is one of 24 scientists involved in the collaborative effort. They include George Daley, the Dean of Harvard Medical School, and Nobel laureate David Baker. Improved method According to the study, an earlier method of activating Notch signalling in laboratory settings by immobilising Notch ligands on tissue culture dishes is not applicable for therapeutic use in humans. The quest for a viable, soluble activator of Notch signalling that could work in vivo (inside a living body) made the team develop a library of custom-designed soluble Notch agonists and systematically test their ability to activate the Notch pathway and support T cell development and function. AI-driven protein design technologies, an innovation that contributed to Dr Baker receiving the 2024 Nobel Prize in Chemistry along with Demis Hassabis and John Jumper, were used to address the challenge. Using the agonists, the researchers demonstrated the large-scale generation of T cells in a laboratory bioreactor, an important advancement given the growing demand for T cell production in hospitals worldwide for Chimeric Antigen Receptor (CAR) T cell-based cancer immunotherapies. Furthermore, when the agonists were injected into mice during vaccination, the animals displayed significantly improved T cell responses, indicating an enhanced immune response. The treatment resulted in increased production of memory T cells, which are crucial for the long-term impact of vaccines. 'Being able to activate Notch signalling opens up tremendous opportunities in immunotherapy, vaccine development, and immune cell regeneration,' Dr Mout said. 'What excites me the most is using this technology to engineer synthetic proteins that simultaneously bridge T cells and cancer cells, boost T cell-mediated killing, and neutralise the immunosuppressive tumour micro-environment. Our goal is to develop next-generation immunotherapies and cancer vaccines,' he added. The other collaborators of the study include Urban Lendahl of the Stockholm-based Karolinska Institutet and a former Chairman of the Physiology and Medicine Nobel Committee, Stephen C. Blacklow, the Chair of Harvard Medical School's Department of Biological Chemistry and Molecular Pharmacology, and R. Grant Rowe of Boston's Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.
Hans India
14 hours ago
- Hans India
After resounding success of inaugural edition… State eyes annual Quantum India Summit in the future
Bengaluru: Buoyed by the overwhelming response to the inaugural Quantum India Bengaluru Summit 2025, Karnataka is now planning to make it an annual event, State Minister for Minor Irrigation and Science & Technology N.S. Boseraju announced on Thursday. Speaking at the summit's valedictory session, Mr. Boseraju said, 'This first edition has marked a milestone on the global quantum map. Given its scale and impact, the state government is considering hosting it annually.' The summit drew 1,951 delegates, far exceeding the initial expectation of 500, and featured 24 sessions with 75 speakers, including Nobel laureates and senior representatives from 19 countries such as the US, UK, Israel, Germany, and Japan. The event saw active participation from quantum researchers, corporates, startups, and academic institutions. Deputy Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar chaired a roundtable with global stakeholders to explore collaborative opportunities. Several foreign institutions and investors expressed keen interest in partnering with Karnataka in quantum technology ventures. Highlighting the state's long-term vision, Mr. Boseraju reiterated Karnataka's plan to launch a ₹1,000 crore Quantum Mission by 2035. This includes skilling initiatives, infrastructure development, and startup incubation. He also announced new quantum curricula at the school level and expansion of DST-funded PhD fellowships in quantum computing, sensing, and communication. An MoU was signed between IIIT Dharwad, Raichur, and QpiAI to establish an 8-qubit quantum computer, marking a key leap in research and training. 'Karnataka is poised to become a global quantum powerhouse,' Boseraju declared, signalling a new frontier in India's science and tech landscape.
