‘Godfather of AI’ Hinton wins Physics Nobel with AI pioneer Hopfield

This year’s Nobel Prize in Physics has been awarded to Geoffrey E. Hinton, known as the “godfather of artificial intelligence (AI)” in tech circles, along with AI pioneer John J. Hopfield.

The two Nobel Laureates used tools from physics to develop methods that are the foundation of today’s powerful machine learning, the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences said in a statement on Tuesday, 8 October.

Machine learning has long been important for research, including the sorting and analysis of vast amounts of data. Hopfield and Hinton used tools from physics to construct methods that helped lay the foundation for today’s powerful machine learning, it said, adding that machine learning based on artificial neural networks is currently revolutionizing science, engineering and daily life.

Hopfield created a memory system that can store and recall patterns such as images, while Hinton developed a method that helps computers automatically find patterns in data, such as recognizing objects in pictures.

AI typically refers to machine learning using artificial neural networks, modeled after how the brain works. In these networks, nodes act like brain cells, influencing each other through connections that can be strengthened or weakened. The network learns by strengthening connections between nodes with high values. This year’s award winners have made key contributions to this field since the 1980s, the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences said.

Hopfield’s network works like a system of pixels, where each node represents part of an image. It adjusts connections between the nodes to store images efficiently. When given a blurry or incomplete image, the network makes gradual changes to recreate the original image as accurately as possible.

Hinton built on Hopfield’s work by creating the Boltzmann machine, a network that uses statistical physics to recognize patterns in data. The Boltzmann machine learns by being trained with likely examples and can classify images or generate new ones based on the patterns it has learnt. Hinton’s innovations laid the foundation for the rapid expansion of machine learning in various fields, including the development of new materials in physics.

Hopfield, who was born in 1933 in Chicago, Illinois, earned his PhD in 1958 from Cornell University in Ithaca, New York. He is currently a professor at Princeton University in New Jersey.

Hinton, born in 1947 in London, received his PhD in 1978 from the University of Edinburgh, UK. He is a professor at the University of Toronto, Canada.

Hopfield and Hinton will share the 11 million Swedish kronor (about $1 million) prize money.

The godfather’s caution

Meanwhile, during a conference call after the announcement of the Nobel award, Hinton expressed concerns about AI’s rapid advancement.

“We need to worry about bad consequences,” Hinton warned, highlighting the potential risks of AI while also noting the unprecedented growth of AI systems.

“AI will have a huge influence similar to the industrial revolution. Instead of exceeding physical strength, it will enhance people’s intellectual abilities. We have no experience in having things which are smarter than us. It could give us much better healthcare and be more efficient. It will make a huge improvement in productivity, but we also need to worry about bad consequences, particularly threat of these things getting out of control,” Hinton said.

He stressed the need for ethical considerations and urged collaboration among scientists, policymakers, and industry to establish safeguards.

When asked which AI tool he uses most, he answered ChatGPT and said he was “flabbergasted” by winning the Nobel Prize.

Nobel for medicine

US-based scientists Victor Ambros and Gary Ruvkun won this year’s Nobel Prize in Medicine on Monday, 7 October, for the discovery of microRNA and its crucial role in how multicellular organisms grow and live.

Ambros is a professor at the UMass Chan Medical School, while Ruvkun is a professor at Harvard Medical School and also affiliated with the Massachusetts general hospital in Boston.

Each year, the physiology or medicine prize is the first of the six Nobels, arguably the most prestigious prizes, to be announced in the month of October, followed by physics, chemistry, literature, peace and, finally, economics.

The Nobel Prizes are awarded on 10 December, the anniversary of the death of Alfred Nobel, the Swedish inventor and industrialist who established the prizes.