American Geoffrey Hinton and British-Canadian John Hopfield have been awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics for their groundbreaking work on the foundations of artificial intelligence. Their research on neural networks in the 1980s laid the groundwork for the deep-learning systems that are transforming various sectors today, but both scientists have also expressed concerns about the technology’s potential risks.
Following the announcement, Hinton, often referred to as the “Godfather of AI,” remarked, “In the same circumstances, I would do the same again, but I am worried that the overall consequence of this might be systems more intelligent than us that eventually take control.” His apprehensions are rooted in the rapid advancements in AI technology, which he believes could pose significant threats to society.
Hinton made headlines in 2023 when he resigned from his position at Google to advocate against the “profound risks to society and humanity” posed by AI. He previously noted that while the idea of AI potentially wiping out humanity is “not inconceivable,” it is crucial for humans to exercise responsibility in the use of this technology.
The Nobel Committee recognized Hinton and Hopfield for their “foundational discoveries and inventions that enable machine learning with artificial neural networks.” Ellen Moons, chair of the Nobel Committee for Physics, highlighted that these innovations are integral to everyday applications, including facial recognition and language translation. However, she cautioned that the swift evolution of AI has also raised collective concerns about the future.
Hopfield, a professor emeritus at Princeton, was acknowledged for developing the “Hopfield network,” an associative memory model capable of storing and reconstructing images and patterns in data. He echoed Hinton’s sentiments, emphasizing the need for a deeper understanding of modern AI systems to prevent them from spiraling out of control and labeling recent advancements as “very unnerving.”