They were 40 years ahead, and the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences has just congratulated them by awarding them the Nobel Prize. In the 1980s, scientists Geoffrey Hinton and John Hopfield worked on artificial neural networks. They want to design a machine capable of “learning by example”.
This work laid the foundation for artificial intelligence and machine learning as we know it today. In a press release, reacting to the Nobel committee’s announcement, Professor Hinton, who works at the University of Toronto, said he was “extremely surprised and honored” to receive this prize.
An inventor full of regrets
The man whom the media called the “godfather of AI” had nevertheless taken a significant step back from this technology. In 2023, he would have resigned from his position at Google to warn of the dangers posed by artificial intelligence.
In a statement made to the New York Times, he acknowledged that “a part of him regretted” the work he carried out throughout his life. He expressed concern about how “bad actors” could use AI in the coming decades to do “bad things.”
Despite winning this Nobel Prize, the ultimate reward for all scientists, Hinton continues to warn of the risks linked to artificial intelligence. In an interview with journalists yesterday, he assured that “we have no idea how things smarter than us can work.”
Before specifying that “this is going to be wonderful in many ways”, but always seeing the other side of the coin, he also promises that we must “worry about a number of possible consequences.” He notably mentions the human “loss of control” as one of the biggest risks related to AI for the next few years.
AI: a threat today
Geoffrey Hinton is not the only scientist to doubt Man’s ability to use AI in the best possible way. While they all recognize that artificial intelligence is a formidable tool, opening previously closed doors, they are also aware of the risks that this technology brings.
In a statement to the press, Nobel Prize co-winner John Hopfield also said he “very worried” to see AI develop at exponential speed. In his eyes, it is above all necessary to understand how artificial neural networks (which he largely set up) work, in order to know their limits and to be able to work with full knowledge of the facts.
The work of a sorcerer’s apprentice in recent years is not at all to his liking. The 91-year-old researcher drew a parallel during his media intervention with the development of atomic weapons. “ We are used to technologies that are not just good or bad, but can go both ways. »
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