John Hopfield and Geoffrey Hinton Honored with the Nobel Prize for Physics

• Two researchers, John Hopfield and John Hopfield, who pioneered the invention and growth of AI have been awarded the Nobel Prize for physics.
• The duo shared a sum of 11m Swedish kronor (about 810,000).
• Interestingly, Hinton (who is also called the godfather of AI) is now worried that AI might wipe out humanity.

Researchers John Hopfield (91) and Geoffrey Hinton(76) have been awarded the Nobel prize in physics in 2024.The announcement was made by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences in Stockholm followed by the award ceremony. The winners shared the 11m Swedish kronor (about 810,000) prize.

Hopfield received the honor for creating an associative memory that has the ability to store and reconstruct images and other kinds of patterns in data whereas Hinton (76) was honored for inventing a method that can independently discover properties in data".

At the ceremony, Hinton said that he was flabbergasted".

I had no idea this would happen. I'm very surprised.' - Geoffrey Hinton

Ellen Moons, the chair of the Nobel Committee for Physics, said that their research in artificial neural networks has been fundamental in developing many physics topics such as particle physics, material science, and astrophysics.

So many of these developments have become a part of daily life - take language translation and facial recognition for example.

More About Their Work

Hopfield and Hinton's work began in 1980 when they demonstrated how computer programs that draw on statistics and neural networks can form an entire field of study.

• In 1982, Hopfield built that associative memory which basically mimics the way memories are stored in the brain.
• This memory was able to recall things when prompted with a similar pattern - kind of like when you recall the tune of a song that you heard on the radio in a taxi.
• Hinton built on this research by adding probabilities into a multilayered version of the neural network.
• This led to a program where one could recognize, categorize, and then create images after being trained on a set of pictures.

This paved the way for everything else that came after that - language translation, facial recognition systems, and even generative AI that is the foundation of AI tools like ChatGPT, Gemini, and Claude.

Hinton's Current View on AI

Hinton, who is also known as the godfather of AI, has an interesting view on the technology now. He's worried that AI might wipe out humanity.

In fact, last year he resigned from Google so he could talk more freely about the potential harms of AI, including spreading misinformation and taking away jobs.

I am worried that the overall consequence of this might be systems more intelligent than us that eventually take control.' - Geoffrey Hinton

He told reporters that AI has the potential to create something as massive as the Industrial Revolution. But instead of surpassing people in physical strength, it will surpass people in terms of intellectual ability.

Sure, having smart technology is great for development and innovation. It can advance the healthcare field and make huge changes in productivity. But there's also a worry that things might get out of control.

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