The ‘godfather of artificial intelligence’ received the Nobel Prize in Physics

The Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded to two scientists, Geoffrey Hinton and John Hopfield, for their work on machine learning.

British-Canadian Professor Hinton, sometimes called the “Godfather of Artificial Intelligence”, said he was stunned.

He resigned from Google in 2023 and warned of the dangers of machines that could surpass humans.

The announcement was made by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences at a press conference in Stockholm, Sweden.

American professor John Hopfield, 91 years old, is a professor at Princeton University in the USA, while prof. Hinton, 76, professor at the University of Toronto, Canada.

Machine learning is central to artificial intelligence because it develops how a computer can train itself to generate information.

It powers a wide range of technologies we use today, from searching the Internet to editing photos on our phones.

“I had no idea this would happen. I am very surprised,” said prof. Hinton, speaking by phone with the Academy minutes after the announcement.

He said he was in a hotel with bad internet in California and was considering canceling the rest of the day’s plans.

The academy cited some of the key applications of the two scientists’ work, including improving climate modeling, developing solar cells and analyzing medical images.

Pioneering research by prof. Hinton’s work on neural networks laid the foundation for current AI systems like ChatGPT.

In artificial intelligence, neural networks are systems that are similar to the human brain in the way they learn and process information. They allow AI to learn from experience, just as a person would. This process is called deep learning.

Prof. Hinton said his work on artificial neural networks was revolutionary.

“It will be like the industrial revolution – but instead of exceeding our physical capabilities, it will exceed our intellectual capabilities,” he said.

However, he expressed concern about the future. Asked if he regrets his life’s work, as he told reporters last year, he replied that he would do the same job again, “but I worry that the consequences could be systems that are more intelligent than us and that could eventually take control.” .

He also said that he uses AI chatbot ChatGPT4 for many things, but with the understanding that he is not always right.

Professor John Hopfield invented a network that can save and recreate patterns.

It uses physics that describes the characteristics of materials based on atomic rotation.

In a similar way as the brain tries to remember words using connected but incomplete words, prof. Hopfield developed a network that can use incomplete patterns to find the most similar ones.

The Nobel Committee stated that the work of these two scientists has become part of our daily lives, including facial recognition and language translation.

Or Ellen Moons, President Nobel’s of the physics committee, said that “rapid development also raises concerns about our common future.”

The winners share a prize fund of 11 million Swedish kronor (about £810,000).

When prof. Hinton, who left Google last year, told the BBC that some of the dangers of AI chatbots were “quite scary”.

He also said his age played a role in his decision to leave the tech giant.

Earlier this year, in an interview with BBC Newsnight, he said that the UK government would need to introduce a universal basic income to tackle the impact of AI on inequality, as he was “very concerned about AI taking over many everyday jobs.”

He added that while AI will increase productivity and wealth, the money will go to the rich “and not to people whose jobs will be lost, and that will be very bad for society.”

In the same interview, he said that developments in the past year have shown that governments are not ready to limit the military use of AI, while competition in product development quickly means there is a risk that tech companies will not “put enough effort into security.”

Prof. Hinton said: “My guess is that in the next five to twenty years, there’s a one in half chance that we’re going to face the problem of AI trying to take over.”