A NOBEL physics prize winner warned today of the speed of artificial intelligence (AI) development, saying we need to be “very careful” and “very thoughtful.”

British-Canadian scientist Geoffrey Hinton said the pace of change in AI is “much faster” than he expected and there has not been enough time to complete the research he believes is required.

His work has laid the foundations for technology that allows computers to mimic human intelligence, but his recent efforts have centred on advocating for safer AI.

Last year he resigned from his job at Google, citing concerns that “bad actors” would use the technology to harm others.

Prof Hinton told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “I didn’t think it would be where we would be now. I thought at some point in the future we would get here.

“Because the situation we’re in now is that most of the experts in the field think that sometime, within probably the next 20 years, we’re going to develop AIs that are smarter than people.

“And that’s a very scary thought.”

Prof Hinton thinks the impact AI could have on the world will be similar to the Industrial Revolution.

At the time, “human strength ceased to be that relevant because machines were just stronger, and if you wanted to dig a ditch, you dug it with a machine,” he said.

“What we’ve got now is something that’s replacing human intelligence, and just ordinary human intelligence will not be at the cutting edge anymore.

“It will be machines.”

Asked what he thinks life might be like in the future, Prof Hinton said: “It will depend very much on what our political systems do with this technology.

“My big worry at present is that we’re in a situation now where we need to be very careful and very thoughtful about developing a potentially very dangerous technology.

“It’s going to have lots of wonderful effects in healthcare, and in almost every industry it’s going to make things more efficient, but we need to be very careful about the development of it.

“We need regulations to stop people using it for bad things, and we don’t appear to have those kinds of political systems in place at present.”

Prof Hinton said he fears AI will be bad for society if many people lose their jobs and all the benefit goes to the rich.