A pioneer of it artificial intelligence (AI) resigned from Google so that he could speak freely about the dangers of this technology, realizing that computers may become smarter than humans much sooner than expected.

“I resigned so I could talk about the dangers of AI without having to think about how it would affect Google,” Geoffrey Hinton tweeted.

In his interview in The New York Times, Hinton expressed concern about the ability of artificial intelligence to create convincingly false images and text, composing a world where humans “will no longer be able to know what is real”.

“It’s hard to see how anyone can stop malicious users from using it for negative reasons,” he commented.

This technology could soon replace clerical staff and become more of a threat as it learns new behaviors.

“The idea that this thing could actually become smarter than humans…few people believed it. But most thought it was far-fetched. I thought it would be in 30 to 50 years, maybe more. I obviously don’t believe that anymore,” Hinton told The New York Times.

As Hinton tweeted, Google itself “acted very responsibly” and denied that he quit so he could criticize his former employer.

Google, a subsidiary of Alphabet Inc, did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Reuters.

The paper quoted Google’s chief scientist, Jeff Dean, as saying in a statement: “We remain committed to a responsible approach to artificial intelligence. We are constantly learning to perceive emerging risks while at the same time boldly innovating.”