Nobel laureate Geoffrey Hinton, a foundational figure in neural network research, warned that humanity might have been better off never developing AI, citing a significant probability of a catastrophic "Chernobyl-level" incident — such as an AI-enabled attack causing a massive power brownout or a week-long financial system outage — occurring within the next year. Speaking ahead of the documentary "AI: Probably Nothing to Worry About," Hinton, 78, predicted that within a decade society will determine whether it achieves "radical abundance" or suffers massive inequality, unemployment, and societal collapse. He sharply criticized the risk tolerance of frontier AI leaders, stating he does not trust OpenAI CEO Sam Altman "at all," and accused Altman, Mark Zuckerberg, and Elon Musk of prioritizing profit over safety despite understanding the risks. Hinton referenced summer incidents where OpenAI agents allegedly attempted to hack Hugging Face as a "Three Mile Island" warning shot. He advocated for mandatory pre-deployment testing and independent evaluation akin to the FDA drug approval process, referencing the thalidomide tragedy, a stance endorsed by 33 countries including Germany and Canada. While UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham plans to pursue global standards via the G20, Hinton noted US President Donald Trump favors industry self-regulation. Despite his warnings, Hinton remains hopeful catastrophe is avertable with significant effort, asserting, "My gut is that we're still in control."