Two scientists awarded Nobel in Physics for advancing AI

The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences has awarded Princeton University professor emeritus John Hopfield, along with Geoffrey Hinton of the University of Toronto, the 2024 Nobel Prize in Physics “for foundational discoveries and inventions that enable machine learning with artificial neural networks.”

Hopfield, 91, used tools from physics to develop an associative memory that can store and recreate patterns, known as the Hopfield network, according to the press release.

British-born Hinton, 76, an early pioneer of artificial intelligence, used the Hopfield network to create a different kind of machine that can learn to recognize characteristic properties in data.

“This year’s two Nobel Laureates in physics have used tools from physics to develop methods that are the foundation of today’s powerful machine learning,” the academy said in a statement.

Hinton made news last year when he quit his job at Google so he could speak more freely about the dangers of AI—which he did during a press call after the prize was announced.

“We have no experience of what it’s like to have things smarter than us,” he said by phone to the Nobel press conference, Reuters reported. “It’s going to be wonderful in many respects, in areas like healthcare. But we also have to worry about a number of possible bad consequences. Particularly the threat of these things getting out of control.”

Hopfield and Hinton will split the $1.1 million prize.