The Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded on October 8, 2024 to two researchers who worked on AI.
The 2024 Nobel Prize in Physics on Tuesday rewarded two pioneers of artificial intelligence (AI), American researchers John Hopfield and Canadian-British Geoffrey Hinton, for their discoveries on artificial neural networks and machine learning.
Machine learning systems
“The two winners […] used physics tools to develop methods that are the basis of today’s powerful machine learning systems.”explained in a press release the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, which awards this prize worth 11 million Swedish crowns (around one million euros) each year.
“Machine learning based on artificial neural networks is revolutionizing science, engineering and everyday life”underlined the Academy. John Joseph Hopfield, born in 1933, physicist and biologist, professor at Princeton University, “created associative memory that can store and reconstruct images and other types of patterns in data.”
As for Geoffrey Hinton, born in 1947, professor at the University of Toronto, he “invented a method that can autonomously spot properties in data and thus perform tasks such as identifying specific elements in images”, she added. “I’m stunned. I never thought this would happen,” the researcher reacted on the phone.
The AI debate
Last year, Geoffrey Hinton resigned from Google to warn of the dangers that AI would represent for the future of humanity, after realizing that computers could become smarter than humans much sooner than he and other experts did not think so. A concern shared by the Nobel jury.
“While machine learning has enormous benefits, its rapid development also raises concerns about our future”declared Ellen Moons, president of the Nobel Committee for Physics. “Collectively, humans bear the responsibility to use this new technology safely and ethically, for the greatest benefit of humanity.”
The Nobel Prize in Physics is the second Nobel Prize awarded this week, after that of Medicine on Monday, and before those of Chemistry (Wednesday), Literature (Thursday) and Peace (Friday).
