AI Pioneer Claims His Girlfriend Used ChatGPT to End Their Relationship

Geoffrey Hinton, often regarded as a “godfather of AI” and last year’s Nobel Prize winner in Physics, has a complex relationship with the technology he helped develop at Google. He’s warned of AI’s existential risks to humanity and signed a letter urging OpenAI not to abandon its non-profit origins.

In a personal twist, Hinton revealed in an interview with the Financial Times that his ex-girlfriend broke up with him using ChatGPT—a tool reliant on his research. “She got ChatGPT to tell me what a rat I was,” he recounted. “I didn’t think I had been a rat, so it didn’t make me feel too bad.”

This admission underscores the pervasive influence of the tech, even for Hinton, a significant AI critic. Many, especially younger individuals, use ChatGPT for crafting breakup messages and navigating relationship ends.

While such uses don’t equate to AI-induced doomsday scenarios Hinton warns about, they remain significant. The University of Toronto professor continues to caution about AI’s potential to cause “catastrophic outcomes.”

During the FT interview, Hinton urged proactive measures against future threats: “Suppose there was an alien invasion you could see with a telescope that would arrive in 10 years, would you be saying ‘How do we stay positive?'”

He also predicts AI will lead to “massive unemployment and a huge rise in profits,” enriching a few while impoverishing many—a consequence of capitalism, not AI itself.

Despite these concerns, Hinton admits to using ChatGPT for personal queries, including appliance repairs, and has moved past his ChatGPT-aided breakup. “I met somebody I liked more, you know how it goes,” he told the FT. “Maybe you don’t!”

More on Hinton: The “Godfather of AI” Has a Bizarre Plan to Save Humanity From Evil AI.