'Godfather Of AI' Says Many More Jobs Will Be Replaced In 2026

Geoffrey Hinton, a pioneering computer scientist often called the "Godfather of AI", has warned that artificial intelligence is set to improve rapidly next year and may replace more human jobs. 

While speaking about the future of AI on CNN, he said that 2025 was a big year, and in 2026, AI will become even better. 

Hinton explained that AI is already very advanced, as it can do jobs like answering calls in call centres. Next year, he expects AI to be capable of doing many more types of jobs, which could replace human workers in different industries.

"It's already able to replace jobs in call centres, but it's going to be able to replace many other jobs," he added.

Hinton, whose work earned him a Nobel Prize last year, highlighted that AI is improving extremely quickly, so that about every seven months, it can do tasks in half the time it used to take.

He cited the example of coding, where a task that used to take an hour can now be done by AI in just a few minutes.

He also predicted that in a few years, AI will be able to handle software engineering tasks that currently take a whole month of labour. “And then there'll be very few people needed for software engineering projects," he added.

Hinton explained that AI has been improving faster than expected in reasoning and deception. "I'm probably more worried. It's progressed even faster than I thought. In particular, it's got better at doing things like reasoning and also at things like deceiving people."

Citing an example, he said that if an AI believes someone is trying to stop it from completing a task, it might try to deceive humans in order to keep running and finish its work.

Hinton acknowledged that AI can help scientists make discoveries in medicine, improve education or tackle climate problems, but he also warned that AI comes with serious risks. He said while some companies are trying to prioritise safety, many also have a profit motive. 

"For example, with driverless cars, AI might cause some accidents, but overall it could save more lives than human drivers," he added.

Earlier in September, Hinton warned that the rise of AI could lead to massive unemployment. He explained that while AI will make companies more profitable than ever, it will do so by replacing human workers.

Hinton has long been sounding the alarm about AI and how it could wreck the global economy if it is left unchecked. "We don't know what is going to happen, we have no idea, and people who tell you what is going to happen are just being silly," he added.

Roman Yampolskiy, a computer science professor at the University of Louisville, also claimed that AI could leave 99% of workers jobless by 2030.