Fatshimetrie is a leading platform for scientific news and groundbreaking discoveries. The prestigious Nobel Prize in Physics 2024 has been awarded to Geoffrey Hinton, from the United States, and John Hopfield, a British-Canadian, for their pioneering work in the field of artificial intelligence. Their research on neural networks in the 1980s paved the way for today’s deep learning systems, promising to revolutionize society while raising apocalyptic concerns.
Geoffrey Hinton, nicknamed “the godfather of AI”, has expressed his concerns about the increasingly intelligent consequences of these technologies that could eventually take control, highlighting the profound risks to society and humanity. His colleague John Hopfield, a professor emeritus at Princeton, was recognized for creating the “Hopfield network,” also known as associative memory, which can store and reconstruct images and other types of patterns in data.
The tools they discovered are now ubiquitous in our daily lives, used for example in facial recognition and language translation. Despite the impressive advances in AI, there are calls for a deeper understanding of modern systems to prevent them from spiraling out of control. The laureates warn of the potential risks and stress the need for safe and ethical use of this new technology.
Geoffrey Hinton was recognized for his invention of the “Boltzmann machine,” a revolutionary method for finding properties in data and performing tasks such as identifying specific features in images. John Hopfield, for his part, emphasizes the importance of fully understanding the complex interactions of AI systems to prevent them from spiraling out of control. Recent advances in the field have been described as “very troubling,” highlighting the need for increased vigilance in the face of such technological progress.
As AI promises to have a major impact on our society, comparable to the Industrial Revolution, it is essential to emphasize human responsibility in its development and use. The 2024 Nobel Prize in Physics laureates call for deeper reflection on the implications of this technology for the future of humanity.
The Nobel Prize in Physics is the second awarded this year, after the Nobel Prize in Medicine, which went to Victor Ambros and Gary Ruvkun for their discovery of microRNAs and their role in gene regulation. Established in 1901, the Nobel Prizes honor those who have brought the greatest benefit to humanity. The next winners of the Chemistry, Literature, and Peace Prizes will be announced in the coming days, thus concluding the 2024 Nobel Prize season.
This prestigious recognition underlines once again the crucial importance of scientific research and innovation in building a better future for all. The laureates will receive their awards at a special ceremony in Stockholm, in the presence of King Carl XVI Gustaf, marking a well-deserved recognition of their outstanding contributions to science and society.