In a wide-ranging interview with the Financial Times, the former Google scientist cleared the air about why he left the tech giant, raised alarms on potential threats from AI, and revealed how he uses the technology. But he also predicted who the winners and losers will be.

“What’s actually going to happen is rich people are going to use AI to replace workers,” Hinton said. “It’s going to create massive unemployment and a huge rise in profits. It will make a few people much richer and most people poorer. That’s not AI’s fault, that is the capitalist system.”

That echos comments he gave to Fortune last month, when he said AI companies are more concerned with short-term profits than the long-term consequences of the technology.

For now, layoffs haven’t spiked, but evidence is mounting that AI is shrinking opportunities, especially at the entry level where recent college graduates start their careers.

A survey from the New York Fed found that companies using AI are much more likely to retrain their employees than fire them, though layoffs are expected to rise in the coming months.

Hinton said earlier that healthcare is the one industry that will be safe from the potential jobs armageddon.

“If you could make doctors five times as efficient, we could all have five times as much health care for the same price,” he explained on the Diary of a CEO YouTube series in June. “There’s almost no limit to how much health care people can absorb—[patients] always want more health care if there’s no cost to it.”

Still, Hinton believes that jobs that perform mundane tasks will be taken over by AI, while sparing some jobs that require a high level of skill.

In his interview with the FT, he also dismissed OpenAI CEO Sam Altman’s idea to pay a universal basic income as AI disrupts the economy and reduce demand for workers, saying it “won’t deal with human dignity” and the value people derive from having jobs.

Hinton has long warned about the dangers of AI without guardrails, estimating a 10% to 20% chance of the technology wiping out humans after the development of superintelligence.

In his view, the dangers of AI fall into two categories: the risk the technology itself poses to the future of humanity, and the consequences of AI being manipulated by people with bad intent.

In his FT interview, he warned AI could help someone build a bioweapon and lamented the Trump administration’s unwillingness to regulate AI more closely, while China is taking the threat more seriously. But he also acknowledged potential upside from AI amid its immense possibilities and uncertainties.

“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,” Hinton said. “We are at a point in history where something amazing is happening, and it may be amazingly good, and it may be amazingly bad. We can make guesses, but things aren’t going to stay like they are.”

Meanwhile, he told the FT how he uses AI in his own life, saying OpenAI’s ChatGPT is his product of choice. While he mostly uses the chatbot for research, Hinton revealed that a former girlfriend used ChatGPT “to tell me what a rat I was” during their breakup.

“She got the chatbot to explain how awful my behavior was and gave it to me. I didn’t think I had been a rat, so it didn’t make me feel too bad . . . I met somebody I liked more, you know how it goes,” he quipped.

Hinton also explained why he left Google in 2023. While media reports have said he quit so he could speak more freely about the dangers of AI, the 77-year-old Nobel laureate denied that was the reason.

“I left because I was 75, I could no longer program as well as I used to, and there’s a lot of stuff on Netflix I haven’t had a chance to watch,” he said. “I had worked very hard for 55 years, and I felt it was time to retire . . . And I thought, since I am leaving anyway, I could talk about the risks.”

Big Machine Label Group (BMLG) has revealed a series of promotions and a new hire within its international division.

Alex Hannaby, Iren Coutiel, Roxanne Gwillam-Kelly, and Flo Myerscough-Harris have taken on elevated roles, with Cary Dal-Lago joining as the newest team member.

In the press release announcing the news, BMLG noted that the all-female team will continue to lead the label’s international efforts across key markets, including the UK, Australia, and beyond.

The news marks the continued expansion of the HYBE America-owned company, which has also recently been recruiting for a Director, Business & Legal Affairs and Director, Audience Development in Nashville.

The expansion of the International team also marks a significant milestone as the company celebrates its 20th Anniversary and 10 years since the launch of Big Machine UK.

Recently elevated to include VP, International Marketing & Operations, in addition to her role as Head of UK, Alex Hannaby has been instrumental in accelerating BMLG’s global expansion while significantly boosting the UK’s role in its international success, achieving consistent growth in revenue under her leadership.

Hannaby also devised and coordinated the launch of the UK’s first official Country music radio chart – an industry-first that elevated the genre’s visibility across the region.

In just the past 18 months, Hannaby and her team have driven BMLG singles from artists like Riley Green, Thomas Rhett, and Jackson Dean to No.1 on Country radio in the UK and Australia.

Their strategic campaigns have led to notable achievements including Carly Pearce’s sold-out UK tour and upcoming performance at the Opry 100, as well as Dolly Parton’s career-best debut for Rockstar, which landed Top 5 chart positions in both the UK and Australia.

“This next phase of advancement and collaboration allows us to build on the momentum we’ve created and unlock even more opportunities for our roster around the world.”

Alex Hannaby

“I’m thrilled to take on this expanded role as Big Machine continues to grow internationally,” said Hannaby.

“It’s an exciting next chapter, and I’m looking forward to continuing to champion our incredible artists on a global scale. This next phase of advancement and collaboration allows us to build on the momentum we’ve created and unlock even more opportunities for our roster around the world.”

Elsewhere, in the International team, Senior International Digital & Commercial Manager Iren Coutiel started her career as a label intern with BMLG in 2017.

In her expanded role, she will now lead content strategy, influencer marketing, advertising, D2C initiatives, and DSPs across all international markets, driving the label’s global presence and digital growth.

“From the onset of Big Machine Records, a global focus was a must, and our UK-based team has led the way in building the Country format, not only in the UK, but all across Europe.”

Scott Borchetta, BMLG

International Marketing & Promotions Manager Roxanne Gwillam-Kelly, meanwhile, has played a key role in BMLG’s International department for more than four years, leading what BMLG calls “innovative, globally focused campaigns”.

Her expanded responsibilities include overseeing projects in the UK and beyond.

After joining BMLG in 2021, International Marketing & Promotions Manager Flo Myerscough-Harris expands her role from overseeing select projects in the UK to include other international territories.

BMLG’s latest addition to the international team, International Label Intern Cary Dal-Lago, brings “a global perspective to her work,” according to BMLG.

A recent graduate of the University of Westminster with a Master’s in Music Business Management, she previously spent her time creating concert-focused content at Your Culture, capturing live performances, and curating engaging visuals for social media. Dal-Lago will assist on all global BMLG projects moving forward.

“From the onset of Big Machine Records, a global focus was a must, and our UK-based team has led the way in building the Country format, not only in the UK, but all across Europe,” added BMLG Founder, Chairman & CEO Scott Borchetta.

“They consistently find new ways to expand our footprint and drive revenue with incredible passion, execution and creativity!”

Founded in 2005 by Borchetta, BMLG was acquired by Scooter Braun’s Ithaca Holdings in 2019. The entirety of Ithaca, including BMLG and Braun’s SB Projects, was then acquired by South Korea’s HYBE in a $1.05 billion deal in 2021.

Today, Big Machine Label Group encompasses Big Machine Records, The Valory Music Co., Nashville Harbor Records & Entertainment, and publishing company Big Machine Music.

The BMLG artist roster includes Tim McGraw, Sheryl Crow, Thomas Rhett, Mötley Crüe, Rascal Flatts, Lady A, Riley Green, Carly Pearce, Justin Moore, Brett Young, The Band Perry, Brantley Gilbert, Midland, RaeLynn, Jackson Dean, and Aaron Lewis; plus rising talents Braedon Barnhill, Caroline Jones, and Chase McDaniel.

It also includes Cole Goodwin, Greylan James, LECADE, Mackenzie Carpenter, Marfa, Mae Estes, Noah Hicks, Preston Cooper, Ryan Hurd, Shaylen, Something Out West, The Cadillac Three and The Jack Wharff Band.Music Business Worldwide

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The AI news cycle of the summer captured themes including the challenge of starting a career, the importance of technology in the China/U.S. trade war, and mounting anxiety about the impact of the technology. But in terms of finance and investing, Deutsche Bank sees markets “on edge” and hoping for a soft landing amid bubble fears. In part, it blames tech CEOs for egging on the market with overpromises, leading to inflated hopes and dreams, many spurred on by tech leaders’ overpromises. It also sees a major impact from the venture capital space, boosting startups’ valuations, and from the lawyers who are very busy filing lawsuits for all kinds of AI players. It’s ugly out there. But the market is actually “more sober” in many ways than the situation from the late 1990s, the German bank argues.

Still, Wall Street is not Main Street, and Deutsche Bank notes troubling math about the data centers sprouting up on the outskirts of your town. Specifically, the bank flags a back-of-the-envelope analysis from hedge fund Praetorian Capital that suggests hyperscalers’ massive data center investments could be setting up the market for negative returns, echoing past cycles of “capital destruction.”

AI hype and market volatility

AI has captured the market’s imagination, with Cox and Abrudan noting, “it’s clear there is a lot of hype.” Web searches for AI are 10 times as high as they ever were for crypto, the bank said, citing Google Trends data, while it also finds that S&P 500 companies mentioned “AI” over 3,300 times in their earnings calls this past quarter.

Stock valuations overall have soared alongside the “Magnificent Seven” tech firms, which collectively comprise a third of the S&P 500’s market cap. (The most magnificent: Nvidia, now the world’s most valuable company at a market cap exceeding $4 trillion.) Yet Deutsche Bank points out that today’s top tech players have healthier balance sheets and more resilient business models than the high flyers of the dotcom era.

By most ratios, the bank said, valuations “still look more sober than those for hot stocks at the height of the dot-com bubble,” when the Nasdaq more than tripled in less than 18 months to March 2000, then lost 75% of its value by late 2002. By price-to-earnings ratio, Alphabet and Meta are in the mid-20x range, while Amazon and Microsoft trade in the mid-30x range. By comparison, Cisco surpassed 200x during the dotcom bubble, and even Microsoft reached 80x. Nvidia is “only” 50x, Deutsche Bank noted.

Those data centers, though

Despite the relative restraint in share prices, AI’s real risk may be lurking away from its stock-market valuations, in the economics of its infrastructure. Deutsche Bank cites a blog post by Praetorian Capital “that has been doing the rounds.” The post in “Kuppy’s Korner,” named for the fund’s CEO Harris “Kuppy” Kupperman, estimates that hyperscalers’ total data-center spending for 2025 could hit $400 billion, and the bank notes that is roughly the size of the GDP of Malaysia or Egypt. The problem, according to the hedge fund, is that the data centers will depreciate by roughly $40 billion per year, while they currently generate no more than $20 billion of annual revenue. How is that supposed to work?

“Now, remember, revenue today is running at $15 to $20 billion,” the blog post says, explaining that revenue needs to grow at least tenfold just to cover the depreciation. Even assuming future margins rise to 25%, the blog post estimates that the sector would require a stunning $160 billion in annual revenue from the AI powered by those data centers just to break even on depreciation—and nearly $480 billion to deliver a modest 20% return on invested capital. For context, even giants like Netflix and Microsoft Office 365 at their peaks brought in less than a fraction of that figure. Even at that level, “you’d need $480 billion of AI revenue to hit your target return … $480 billion is a LOT of revenue for guys like me who don’t even pay a monthly fee today for the product.” Going from $20 billion to $480 billion could take a long time, if ever, is the implication, and sometime before the big AI platforms reach those levels, their earnings, and presumably their shares, could take a hit.

Deutsche Bank itself isn’t as pessimistic. The bank notes that the data-center buildout is producing a greatly reduced cost for each use of an AI model, as startups are reaching “meaningful scale in cloud consumption.” Also, consumer AI such as ChatGPT and Gemini is growing fast, with OpenAI saying in August that ChatGPT had over 700 million weekly users, plus 5 million paying business users, up from 3 million three months earlier. The cost to query an AI model (subsidized by the venture capital sector, to be sure) has fallen by around 99.7% in the two years since the launch of ChatGPT and is still headed downward.

Echoes of prior bubbles

Praetorian Capital draws two historical parallels to the current situation: the dotcom era’s fiber buildout, which led to the bankruptcy of Global Crossing, and the more recent capital bust of shale oil. In each case, the underlying technology is real and transformative—but overzealous spending with little regard for returns could leave investors holding the bag if progress stalls.

The “arms race” mentality now gripping the hyperscalers’ massive capex buildout mirrors the capital intensity of those past crises, and as Praetorian notes, “even the MAG7 will not be immune” if shareholder patience runs out. Per Kuppy’s Korner, “the megacap tech names are forced to lever up to keep buying chips, after having outrun their own cash flows; or they give up on the arms race, writing off the past few years of capex … Like many things in finance, it’s all pretty obvious where this will end up, it’s the timing that’s the hard part.”

This cycle, Deutsche Bank argues, is being sustained by robust earnings and more conservative valuations than the dotcom era, but “periodic corrections are welcome, releasing some steam from the system and guarding against complacency.” If revenue growth fails to keep up with depreciation and replacement needs, investors may force a harsh reckoning—one characterized not by spectacular innovation but by a slow realization of negative returns.