AI Pioneers Hinton and Hopfield Win Nobel Physics Prize

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Oct 08, 2024

Above: Nobel Committee announces the winners of the 2024 Nobel Prize in Physics during a press conference at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden, on October 8, 2024. Image copyright: Atila Altuntas/Contributor/Anadolu via Getty Imagesstory last updated Oct 09

The Facts

John Hopfield and Geoffrey Hinton have been awarded the 2024 Nobel Prize in Physics for their groundbreaking work in machine learning and artificial neural networks, laying the foundation for modern artificial intelligence (AI) technology.
Hopfield, a 91-year-old professor at Princeton University, invented the "Hopfield network" in 1982, which mimics certain human brain functions and can recall "memories" using partial information.

The Spin

Narrative A

AI is revolutionizing various fields, from healthcare to language translation, and could potentially exceed human intellectual abilities. While there are dangers surrounding the technology, the work of Hopfield and Hinton, if utilized correctly, could one day lead to autonomous AI scientists that discover the undiscoverable in the field of physics and beyond.

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Narrative B

While AI could one day become as scientifically creative as human beings, it's not accurate to claim that we're anywhere close to that yet. More importantly, if the world is going to reap the benefits of such incomprehensibly positive advancements, we're going to have to deal with the risks of AI first, from how it will impact our political system to whether profits will be prioritized over science.

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Nerd narrative

There's a 50% chance that there will be a positive transition to a world with radically smarter-than-human artificial intelligence, according to the Metaculus prediction community.

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