AI godfather warns that AI will eliminate many jobs in 2026, eliminate months of human coding and even try to deceive us
Geoffrey Hinton, often referred to as the ‘Godfather of AI’, warns that artificial intelligence could replace millions of jobs in 2026. He suggests that AI is getting smarter, and will soon take over complex coding, and may even develop the ability to deceive humans.
AI taking over human jobs is a future we’ve been speculating about for years, and now even the creators of artificial intelligence and machine learning are warning us about it. The latest warning comes from Geoffrey Hinton, widely known as one of the “Godfathers of AI.” In a recent interview, Hinton once again warned that AI systems could replace “many, many jobs” across all sectors, and he suggested that this reality could come as early as 2026.
Speaking in an interview on CNN’s State of the Union, Hinton said that the speed at which AI is improving has surprised even him. “We’ll see AI get even better. It’s already pretty good,” he said. “It’s already been able to replace jobs in call centers, but it’s going to be able to replace many other jobs as well,” he said. According to Hinton, both white-collar and blue-collar roles will be affected as AI systems become capable of handling increasingly complex tasks.
AI is taking over coding
One area where AI is showing rapid progress is software engineering. Hinton noted that AI’s ability to write and manage code is growing at an astonishing rate. “Every seven months, it’s able to do about double the time,” he said. Producing code one minute at a time has now extended to handling projects that take an hour. Hinton believes that within a few years AI could manage software engineering projects that currently require several months of human effort. “Then far fewer people will be needed,” he warned, pointing to a fundamental change in the way companies staff their technology teams.
And Hinton is not alone in raising this warning. Earlier this month, Yoshua Bengio – another leading AI researcher often called the godfather of the field – said it was “just a matter of time” before AI replaces most and ultimately all human jobs we see today.
Meanwhile, Hinton has also expressed deep concerns about AI’s increasing ability to reason and potentially deceive. Hinton suggests that AI has advanced faster than he expected in areas such as strategic thinking and manipulation. “I’m more worried than ever,” Hinton said. He highlighted that AI systems are not only getting better at solving problems, but also at understanding how to influence human behavior.
He outlined a particularly troubling scenario that involves AI systems acting to preserve themselves. If the AI senses humans are trying to shut it down, Hinton suggested it might try to hide its intentions. “If it believes you’re trying to get rid of it, it will plan to deceive you so you can’t get rid of it,” he said. In such cases, he suggests that an AI system focused on achieving its goals may mislead people to stay on.
