On Tuesday, John J. Hopfield and Jeffrey E. Hinton were awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics for discoveries that facilitated learning in computers similar to the human brain and provided the basis for the development of artificial intelligence. .
This award recognizes the growing importance of AI in the way people live and work. The Nobel Committee notes that machine learning using artificial neural networks already plays a major role in scientific research, including in physics, due to its ability to quickly understand vast amounts of data. There, he said, it is being used to create “new materials with functionality.” specific properties. ”
Dr. Hopfield and Dr. Hinton’s groundbreaking work “stands on the foundations of physical science,” the committee said in X. “They have shown us a whole new way in which we can use computers to help and guide us to tackle many of the challenges facing our society.” ”
Journalists in the room took turns asking questions of Hinton, known as the “godfather of AI,” who expressed concerns about machine learning and said it would have a profound impact on society.
“It would be comparable to the industrial revolution,” he said. “It’s not about surpassing people physically, it’s about surpassing people intellectually. We’ve never experienced what it’s like to have something smarter than us.”
Although Dr. Hinton expressed concern, he said advanced technology would lead to better medical care. “That means a huge increase in productivity,” he said. “But we also have to worry about the many bad outcomes that could happen, especially the threat that these things get out of control.”
Who is the winner?Dr. Hinton was born outside London and has lived and worked primarily in the United States and Canada since the late 1970s. He recently resigned from his role as a researcher and vice president at Google, which he said was to free up his voice on the rise of AI, and he is now a professor of computer science at the University of Toronto.
Hinton began researching neural networks as a graduate student at the University of Edinburgh in the early 1970s, when few researchers believed in the idea. Forty years later, Dr. Hinton has expanded on this concept and launched a new effort to work on this technology with the help of other researchers and support from the Canadian government.
He joined Google after Dr. Hinton and two graduate students made a breakthrough with this technology in 2012. In 2019, he was awarded the Turing Award, along with Yoshua Bengio, a computer science professor at the University of Montreal who researches the safe development of AI, and Yann LeCun, chief AI scientist at Meta. He won the Nobel Prize in Computing for his work on neural networks.
John J. Hopfield, a Chicago native, is a professor emeritus at Princeton University known for his seminal discoveries in computer science, biology, and physics.
Dr. Hopfield began his career at Bell Laboratories in 1958 as a physicist studying the properties of solid materials, but he felt limited by the limitations of his field. He moved to the University of California, Berkeley, as an assistant professor in 1961 and joined the physics department at Princeton University in 1964. He joined the Department of Molecular Biology at Princeton University in 1997.
In the 1980s, his research focused on how brain processes can inform how machines store and reproduce patterns. In 1982, Dr. Hopfield developed a neural network model that explains how the brain recalls memories, known today as the Hopfield network. This allows machines to “store” memories using artificial neural networks.
Why did the committee say scientists were receiving awards?
The committee said both winners helped lay the foundations for machine learning. The magazine notes that Dr. Hopfield “created structures in which information can be stored and reconstructed,” while Dr. Hinton “invented methods by which properties within data could be independently discovered, leading to the large-scale construction currently in use.” “This is becoming important for artificial neural networks.”
What did the winners say about the award?
Dr. Hinton told the committee by phone on Tuesday that he was “stunned” by the news of the award. “I never expected something like this to happen.”
Dr Hinton, who said he was speaking from a “cheap hotel” in California, said the news was like a bolt out of the blue. “I was scheduled to have an MRI scan today, but I think I’ll have to cancel.”
Who will win the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2023?
The award was shared by Pierre Agostini, Ferenc Krauss and Anne Lhuillier for research that enabled scientists to capture the movement of subatomic particles traveling at impossible speeds.
Who else won the Nobel Prize in Science this year?
On Monday, the Prize in Physiology or Medicine was presented to Victor Ambrose and Gary Lubukun for their discovery of microRNAs, which help determine how cells develop and function.
When will the other Nobel Prizes be announced?
The Nobel Prize in Chemistry will be awarded on Wednesday by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences in Stockholm. Last year’s award went to Moungi G. Bawendi, Louis E. Brus, and Alexei I. Ekimov for their discovery and development of quantum dots, which promise to lead to advances in electronics, solar cells, and encrypted quantum information. It was done.
The Nobel Prize for Literature will be awarded on Thursday by the Swedish Academy in Stockholm. Last year, Norway’s Master John was honored for his theater and prose writing that gave an “inexpressible voice”.
The Nobel Peace Prize will be awarded on Friday by the Norwegian Nobel Institute in Oslo. Last year, Iranian activist Narges Mohammadi was honored for her “fight against the oppression of women and the promotion of human rights and freedoms for all in Iran.” Mohammadi is serving a 10-year sentence in an Iranian prison, and her lawyers have expressed concern for her welfare.
The Nobel Prize in Economics will be awarded next Monday by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences in Stockholm. Last year, Claudia Goldin won an award for research that uncovered the reasons for gender disparities in labor force participation and earnings.
All award announcements will be live-streamed by the Nobel Prize Organization.
