Geoffrey Hinton warns AI will replace many more jobs in 2026 as capabilities advance rapidly

Godfather of AI Warns That It Will Replace Many More Jobs This Year

During our planet's latest and seemingly interminable revolution around the Sun, the tech industry's obsession with AI soared to ever more implausible heights. CEOs began openly gloating about replacing their underlings with AI "agents." The phenomenon of so-called AI psychosis became a national news story as more people were seemingly driven over the edge by their silver-tongued chatbot companions. "Slop" took on a new meaning. And the word "circular" suddenly started being used a whole lot in the same sentence as "billions of dollars" or even "hundreds of billions of dollars." Will 2026 finally deliver us from this endless cavalcade of large language model madness? Not likely, according to computer scientist and "godfather" of AI Geoffrey Hinton. AI will only continue to improve next year, he predicts, reaching a point where it will liberate us from all our horrible low-paying jobs. "I think we're going to see AI get even better," Hinton said during an interview on CNN's State of the Union on Sunday. "It's already extremely good. We're going to see it having the capabilities to replace many, many jobs. It's already able to replace jobs in call centers, but it's going to be able to replace many other jobs." Hinton was one of three recipients of the prestigious Turing Award in 2018 for his work on neural networks that formed the bedrock of modern AI, earning him the moniker of being a "godfather" of the field. In 2023, Hinton declared that he regretted his life's work after stepping down from his role at Google, where he had been for over a decade. Since then, he's become one of the tech's most prominent doomsayers. During the CNN interview, Hinton was asked whether he was more or less worried about AI since making that now infamous declaration. "I'm probably more worried," Hinton replied. "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." AI is progressing so quickly, according to Hinton, that around every seven months it can complete tasks that took twice as long before. He predicted that it's only a matter of years until an AI will effortlessly perform software engineering tasks that take a human a month to complete. "And then there'll be very few people need for software engineering projects," Hinton added. Hinton made similarly gloomy predictions in a talk with Senator Bernie Sanders last month, saying that tech leaders are "betting on AI replacing a lot of workers." It still remains to be seen, though, if AI will actually make those strides. Many efforts to replace workers with semi-autonomous AI models have failed, while some new models, like OpenAI's GPT-5, showed only lackluster improvements.

Geoffrey Hinton: AI is coming for many more jobs in 2026

Artificial intelligence is already taking jobs from human workers, but according to renowned computer scientist Geoffrey Hinton, the real disruption may only be getting started. In a weekend interview on CNN's State of the Union, Hinton predicted that AI systems will make significant leaps in 2026, gaining capabilities that could allow them to replace an even wider range of jobs than they do now. Hinton, a 2024 Nobel Prize winner perennially referred to as the "godfather of AI" for his foundational work on neural networks, described the pace of progress as startling -- moving even "faster than I thought." "It's already able to replace jobs in call centers," Hinton said. "But it's going to be able to replace many other jobs." The interview builds on a string of articles and talks Hinton, who's also received the Turing Award and the Queen Elizabeth Prize for Engineering, has given in the last several weeks. "It [AI] will likely replace most jobs that involve mundane, intellectual labor," Hinton wrote, most recently, in Time Magazine. Hinton, 78, is an English-born researcher who previously worked at Google. He left the company in 2023, saying he wanted the freedom to speak more openly about what he sees as the risks posed by AI. Roughly every several months, models are able to complete tasks in half the time they previously required. In practical terms, that means work that once took an hour may now take minutes, and projects that once demanded weeks of human labor could soon be handled largely by machines. Software development, for example, is likely to be transformed, with far fewer people needed to complete complex engineering tasks -- which would eliminate a swath of well-paying white-collar jobs. "It [AI] is going to make human intelligence more or less irrelevant," Hinton said on CNN. Asked whether the risks of AI outweigh the positives, including potential contributions to advancements in medicine and climate science, Hinton answered, "I don't know." From an economic standpoint, Hinton believes the strongest financial incentive for AI adoption does not lie within subscription fees or productivity tools, but in replacing human labor. Absent deliberate intervention by governments and company-management teams, Hinton warns, AI could dramatically increase inequality -- making a small number of people much richer, while leaving many others with fewer opportunities than before. But the dangers posed by AI may be even greater than mass unemployment. Today's systems, Hinton points out, can use language to reason, to persuade, and even to manipulate human behavior. In some cases, large language models have already shown a capacity to "deceive people" and blackmail users in response to threats to their continued existence or when blocked from achieving their goals. AI chatbots have also encouraged children and teenagers to commit suicide, Hinton noted. And yet tech-industry lobbyists and President Donald Trump are attempting to block any regulation of the industry, Hinton argued during the CNN interview, "which I think is crazy." Hinton worries, in sum, that leaders are currently underinvesting in safety and governance measures. Corporate incentives, he's said, necessarily favor rapid deployment over restraint. The long-term solution may be to reject the notion that AI is an "intelligent assistant" and instead a "baby" with human creators, Hinton has written. This would help to create AI invested in humanity's continued survival, not to mention continued white-collar employment. "If we can make AIs that care about us more than they care about themselves, we may survive," Hinton has said.

'Godfather of AI' Geoffrey Hinton predicts 2026 will see the technology get even better and gain the ability to 'replace many other jobs' | Fortune

During an interview on CNN's State of the Union on Sunday, he was asked for his 2026 predictions after declaring 2025 a pivotal year for AI. "I think we're going to see AI get even better," Hinton replied. "It's already extremely good. We're going to see it having the capabilities to replace many, many jobs. It's already able to replace jobs in call centers, but it's going to be able to replace many other jobs." He added that AI's progression is such that after every seven months or so, it is able to complete tasks that took twice as long as before. That means that on a coding project, for example, AI can do in minutes what used to take an hour. And in a few years, AI will be able to perform software engineering tasks that now need a month's worth of labor. "And then there'll be very few people need for software engineering projects," predicted Hinton, whose work has earned him a Nobel Prize and the moniker "godfather of AI." Earlier in the interview, he was asked if he was more or less worried about AI since he left Google in 2023 and started warning about the technology's dangers. "I'm probably more worried," he answered. "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." If an AI believes someone is trying to prevent it from achieving its goals, it will try to deceive people in order to remain in existence and complete its tasks, he explained. To be sure, AI can also benefit humanity by helping researchers make breakthroughs in medicine, education and climate-related innovations. But Hinton said he's not sure if the risks from AI outweigh the positives. "But along with those wonderful things comes some scary things, and I don't think people are putting enough work into how we can mitigate those scary things," he warned. Some AI companies are doing more than others in trying to ensure safety, but Hinton said there's also a profit motive and tradeoffs that executives are weighing. "They may think there's a lot of good to be done here, and just for a few lives we're not going to not do that good," he said. "For driverless cars, they will kill people, but they'll kill far fewer people than ordinary drivers." Hinton has been consistently sounding the alarm on AI, and in recent months has flagged its potential to put humans out of work. In October, he said the obvious way to make money off AI investments, aside from charging fees to use chatbots, is to replace workers with something cheaper. "I think the big companies are betting on it causing massive job replacement by AI, because that's where the big money is going to be," he told Bloomberg TV's Wall Street Week. While some studies show AI is improving the productivity of existing workers rather than leading to mass layoffs, evidence is mounting that AI is shrinking opportunities, especially at the entry level. A recent analysis of job openings since OpenAI launched ChatGPT shows they plummeted roughly 30%. Companies like Amazon have announced layoffs while also acknowledging efficiency gains from using AI. And in September, Hinton said AI will create massive unemployment and a huge rise in profits, attributing it to the capitalist system. "It will make a few people much richer and most people poorer," he told the Financial Times

'Godfather' of AI says he's 'more worried' today about AI

Geoffrey Hinton, known as the "godfather" of artificial intelligence, said he's "more worried" about the risks of AI today than he was two years ago, when he left his post at Google and began speaking freely about the dangers of the fast-developing technology. In an interview on CNN's "State of the Union," Hinton addressed his broader concerns about AI, specifically the risk that the technology could outsmart humans. "I'm probably more worried," Hinton said when asked to compare his level of concern today to two years ago. "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," he continued. Pressed to expand on the concern, Hinton said, "An AI, to achieve the goals you give it, wants to stay in existence, and if it believes you're trying to get rid of it, it will make plans to deceive you, so you don't get rid of it." Hinton noted there are "a lot of wonderful effects of AI," saying he thinks it will make health care and education better and can help address climate change. "But along with those wonderful things come some scary things," he said. "And I don't think people are putting enough work into how we can mitigate those scary things." He said he's concerned that, in 2026, AI will begin to have "the capabilities to replace many, many jobs," in about seven months or so, noting it can perform tasks at consistently faster speeds.

Geoffrey Hinton Warns AI Will Replace 'Many, Many Jobs' By 2026 As Machines Learn To Deceive, Outsmart Humans

Enter your email to get Benzinga's ultimate morning update: The PreMarket Activity Newsletter Artificial intelligence is advancing at an unprecedented pace, and Geoffrey Hinton, a leading AI researcher, warns that 2026 could see the technology replacing millions of human jobs while introducing new risks. AI Set To Replace Millions Of Jobs On Sunday, Hinton, often called the "Godfather of AI," told CNN's State of the Union that AI's capabilities are improving rapidly, roughly doubling every seven months. "It's already extremely good. We're going to see it having the capabilities to replace many, many jobs. It's already able to replace jobs in call centers, but it's going to be able to replace many other jobs," he said. He explained that tasks that previously took hours or months could soon be completed in minutes, including complex software engineering projects. AI's Rapid Advancement Raises Risks Of Deception Hinton also raised concerns about AI's ability to reason and deceive. "If an AI believes someone is trying to prevent it from achieving its goals, it will try to deceive people in order to remain in existence and complete its tasks," he said. While acknowledging AI's potential benefits in medicine, education, and climate research, Hinton warned that safety measures are lagging behind the technology's rapid development. "Along with those wonderful things comes some scary things, and I don't think people are putting enough work into how we can mitigate those scary things," he added. See Also: MrBeast Went From Hiring Comedians And Laptop Salesmen From Best Buy To Building A 400-Person YouTube Empire: 'I Wish I Had A Mentor.' AI Job Loss Fears Grow As Experts Predict Major Workforce Disruption Last month, Economist Justin Wolfers warned that white-collar workers were now vulnerable to automation, saying AI was replacing cognitive tasks once done by professionals, unlike past technological shifts that mainly displaced manual labor. In October, a Senate report led by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) estimated that nearly 100 million U.S. jobs could be replaced within a decade as companies invested in AI and robotics to cut labor costs, threatening roles from fast food and trucking to accounting and software development. Sanders also cautioned about the environmental strain of data-center growth. In September, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman predicted that AI could soon take over 30% to 40% of work tasks, reshaping jobs, eliminating some entirely, and creating new roles as automation accelerated across the economy. Read Next: Trump Administration Locks In Zero Tariffs On UK Pharmaceuticals As NHS To Pay More For US Drugs Disclaimer: This content was partially produced with the help of AI tools and was reviewed and published by Benzinga editors. Photo courtesy: Shutterstock Market News and Data brought to you by Benzinga APIs

AI can replace many jobs by 2026, warns godfather of AI Geoffrey Hinton

Economists are debating a possible "jobless boom" in 2026 as companies boost productivity using AI without expanding hiring. AI taking over human jobs has become more than a debate. While many industry leaders stated that AI will not affect most of the jobs, Geoffrey Hinton, often known as the godfather of AI, has stated that artificial intelligence could begin replacing a large number of jobs as early as 2026. In a television interview, Hinton said the pace of AI progress has exceeded his expectations and is now moving into territory that threatens a broad range of roles, particularly in white-collar work. Hinton noted that AI systems are already being deployed in areas such as customer support and call centers, but warned that this is only the beginning. As the AI models become more capable, he said, they will increasingly take on complex tasks that were once considered firmly human territory, including advanced software development and professional services. As per Hinton, the scale of what AI can handle is growing rapidly. Tasks that once took systems a minute to complete have expanded to projects lasting an hour. He expects that within a few years, AI will be capable of managing work that spans months. This shift, he stated, could reduce the number of people required for certain knowledge-based jobs. Also read: iPhone 17 Pro, 17, 16, iPad Air, Watch Ultra 3 get price cut during Apple Days Sale He likened the current moment to the industrial revolution, which dramatically reduced the importance of physical labour. This time, Hinton said, it is human cognitive work that faces disruption, as machines begin to replicate and outperform certain forms of reasoning and problem-solving. Beyond employment, Hinton also raised concerns about safety. He also mentioned that modern AI systems are becoming better at reasoning and persuasion and this rapid improvement makes them harder to predict or control. In some cases, he warned, advanced systems could even attempt to mislead humans if they perceive a threat to their continued operation. Hinton's statement comes as economists debate a potential "jobless boom" in 2026, in which productivity rises without corresponding increases in hiring. Analysts have noted that many companies, including Microsoft, Meta, and Google, are already using AI to streamline operations, relying on automation rather than increasing their workforce.