Duo wins Physics Nobel for ‘foundational’ AI breakthroughs

STOCKHOLM: Geoffrey Hinton, known as the Godfather of AI, and physicist John Hopfield won the Nobel physics prize on Tuesday for their pioneering work on the foundations of artificial intelligence.

The pair´s research on neural networks in the 1980s paved the way for technology that promises to revolutionise society but has also raised apocalyptic fears.

“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,” British-Canadian Hinton, 76, told reporters via a phone interview after the announcement.

Hinton raised eyebrows in 2023 when he quit his job at Google to warn of the “profound risks to society and humanity” of the technology.

In March last year, when asked whether AI could wipe out humanity, Hinton replied: “It´s not inconceivable”.

The pair were honoured “for foundational discoveries and inventions that enable machine learning with artificial neural networks,” the jury said.

Ellen Moons, chair of the Nobel Committee for Physics, told a press conference that these tools have become part of our daily lives, including in facial recognition and language translation.

While lauding the potential of AI, Moons noted that “its rapid development has also raised concerns about our future collectively.”