AI Dominates Nobel Prizes, Sparking Debate on Scientific Categories
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AI Comes to the Nobels: Double Win Sparks Debate about Scientific Fields
Nobel committees recognized the transformative power of artificial intelligence (AI) in two of this year's prizes -- honouring pioneers of neural networks in the physics prize, and the developers of computational tools to study and design proteins in the chemistry prize. But not all researchers are
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AI comes to the Nobels: double win sparks debate about scientific fields
Nobel committees recognized the transformative power of artificial intelligence (AI) in two of this year's prizes -- honouring pioneers of neural networks in the physics prize, and the developers of computational tools to study and design proteins in the chemistry prize. But not all researchers are
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A Shift in the World of Science
What this year's Nobels can teach us about science and humanity. By Alan Burdick and Katrina Miller We are journalists on The Times's Science desk. Technology observers have grown increasingly vocal in recent years about the threat that artificial intelligence poses to the human variety. A.I.
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AI was central to two of 2024's Nobel prize categories. It's a sign of things to come
The 2024 Nobel Prizes in physics and chemistry have given us a glimpse of the future of science. Artificial intelligence (AI) was central to the discoveries honored by both awards. You have to wonder what Alfred Nobel, who founded the prizes, would think of it all. We are certain to see many more
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A.I.'s Sweep Reignites Debate Over Whether It's Time to Modernize the Nobel Prizes
This year's awards have reignited debates over whether the Nobel Prizes should modernize their categories to reflect current scientific fields. A.I. is having a moment at this year's Nobel Prizes. Earlier this week, the award for physics was granted to Geoffrey Hinton and John Hopfield, two
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AI steps into science limelight with Nobel wins
For long periods of its history, artificial intelligence has lurked in the hinterland of science, often unloved and unfunded -- but two Nobel prizes in one week suggest its time in the sunshine has finally arrived. First on Tuesday, Geoffrey Hinton and John Hopfield won the physics prize for their
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Is AI physics or chemistry? Nobel Prize wins spark debate
The Nobel Prize announcements this week heavily featured the use of AI, which has ignited discussion over traditional sciences. Artificial intelligence (AI) jumped into the upper echelons of scientific achievement this week, winning as part of the Nobel prizes in physics and chemistry. The awards
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Nobel Prizes highlight the intersection of AI and fundamental research
This year's Nobel Prizes highlight AI's significant role in basic research, illustrating how computing blurs scientific boundaries. Winners used AI to mimic the human brain, model associative memory, and predict protein structures, emphasizing the intersection of physics, chemistry, and AI amid
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AI steps into science limelight with Nobel wins
Paris (AFP) - For long periods of its history, artificial intelligence has lurked in the hinterland of science, often unloved and unfunded -- but two Nobel prizes in one week suggest its time in the sunshine has finally arrived. First on Tuesday, Geoffrey Hinton and John Hopfield won the physics
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How the AI Nobel Prizes Could Change the Focus of Research
It has been a billboard week for artificial intelligence research. But could big wins for Demis Hassabis and Geoffrey Hinton change broader scientific incentives? Demis Hassabis didn't know he was getting the Nobel Prize in chemistry from the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences until his wife
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AI is having its Nobel moment. Do scientists need the tech industry to sustain it?
Hours after the artificial intelligence pioneer Geoffrey Hinton won a Nobel Prize in physics, he drove a rented car to Google's California headquarters to celebrate. Hinton doesn't work at Google anymore. Nor did the longtime professor at the University of Toronto do his pioneering research at the
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AI is having its Nobel moment. Do scientists need the tech industry to sustain it?
Hours after the artificial intelligence pioneer Geoffrey Hinton won a Nobel Prize in physics, he drove a rented car to Google's California headquarters to celebrate Hours after the artificial intelligence pioneer Geoffrey Hinton won a Nobel Prize in physics, he drove a rented car to Google's
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AI is having its Nobel moment. Do scientists need the tech industry to sustain it?
Hours after the artificial intelligence pioneer Geoffrey Hinton won a Nobel Prize in physics, he drove a rented car to Google's California headquarters to celebrate. Hinton doesn't work at Google anymore. Nor did the longtime professor at the University of Toronto do his pioneering research at the
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How artificial intelligence won the Nobel Prizes
Sir Demis Hassabis discovered he had won the Nobel Prize in chemistry this week when his wife -- also a scientific researcher -- received several calls on Skype to urgently request his phone number. "My mind was completely frazzled, which hardly ever happens. It was . . . almost like an
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AI is having its Nobel moment. Do scientists need the tech industry to sustain it?
Hours after the artificial intelligence pioneer Geoffrey Hinton won a Nobel Prize in physics, he drove a rented car to Google's California headquarters to celebrate. Hinton doesn't work at Google anymore. Nor did the longtime professor at the University of Toronto do his pioneering research at the
[16]
AI is having its Nobel moment. Do scientists need the tech industry to sustain it?
Hours after the artificial intelligence pioneer Geoffrey Hinton won a Nobel Prize in physics, he drove a rented car to Google's California headquarters to celebrate. Hinton doesn't work at Google anymore. Nor did the longtime professor at the University of Toronto do his pioneering research at the
[17]
AI Is Having Its Nobel Moment. Do Scientists Need the Tech Industry to Sustain It?
Hours after the artificial intelligence pioneer Geoffrey Hinton won a Nobel Prize in physics, he drove a rented car to Google's California headquarters to celebrate. Hinton doesn't work at Google anymore. Nor did the longtime professor at the University of Toronto do his pioneering research at the
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Google's Nobel Prize Winners Stir Debate Over AI Research
LONDON (Reuters) - The award this week of Nobel prizes in chemistry and physics to a small number of artificial intelligence pioneers affiliated with Google has stirred debate over the company's research dominance and how breakthroughs in computer science ought to be recognised. Google has been at
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Google's Nobel prize winners stir debate over AI research
LONDON (Reuters) - The award this week of Nobel prizes in chemistry and physics to a small number of artificial intelligence pioneers affiliated with Google has stirred debate over the company's research dominance and how breakthroughs in computer science ought to be recognised. Google has been at
[20]
AI steps into science limelight with Nobel wins
For long periods of its history, artificial intelligence has lurked in the hinterland of science, often unloved and unfunded -- but two Nobel prizes in one week suggest its time in the sunshine has finally arrived. First on Tuesday, Geoffrey Hinton and John Hopfield won the physics prize for their
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Scientists sound AI alarm after winning physics Nobel
"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," Hinton, 76, told reporters after the announcement. Hinton, known as "the Godfather of AI", raised eyebrows in 2023
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Scientists sound AI alarm after winning physics Nobel
British-Canadian Geoffrey Hinton and American John Hopfield won the Nobel physics prize on Tuesday for their pioneering work on the foundations of artificial intelligence, with both sounding the alarm over the technology they helped bring to life. The pair's research on neural networks in the
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Why did the 2024 Nobel for physics go to AI-related research?
The award this week of Nobel prizes in chemistry and physics to a small number of artificial intelligence pioneers affiliated with Google has stirred debate over the company's research dominance and how breakthroughs in computer science ought to be recognised. Google has been at the forefront of
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Google's Nobel prize winners stir debate over AI research
LONDON, Oct 10 (Reuters) - The award this week of Nobel prizes in chemistry and physics to a small number of artificial intelligence pioneers affiliated with Google (GOOGL.O), opens new tab has stirred debate over the company's research dominance and how breakthroughs in computer science ought to
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AI research gets two Nobel wins in one week
The big picture: The technical foundations of AI were laid over decades, but its advances have only received wide recognition more recently with the advent of chatbots and the popularization of generative AI. Driving the news: Geoffrey Hinton and John Hopfield were awarded the Nobel Prize in
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An A.I. Pioneer Reflects on His Nobel Moment in an Interview
Cade Metz has been reporting on artificial intelligence for more than 15 years. On Tuesday, the scientists John J. Hopfield and Geoffrey E. Hinton received the Nobel Prize in Physics for discoveries that helped drive the development of artificial neural networks -- a technology that is now
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Nobel Prizes Give Google the Glow It Craves
An executive from a large technology firm has just won a Nobel. On Thursday, the top prize for chemistry went to the head of Alphabet Inc.'s AI efforts, Demis Hassabis, along with two other key scientists, for a years-long project that used artificial intelligence to predict the structure of
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Parmy Olson: Nobel prizes give Google the glow it craves
By Parmy Olson, Bloomberg Opinion The Tribune Content Agency An executive from a large technology firm has just won a Nobel. On Thursday, the top prize for chemistry went to the head of Alphabet Inc.'s AI efforts, Demis Hassabis, along with two other key scientists, for a years-long project that
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Google triumphs on the Nobel stage as tough antitrust fight looms
The two Google scientists won their Nobels a day after Geoffrey Hinton, a former Google vice president and researcher, was one of two winners of the Nobel Prize in physics for his pioneering work on artificial intelligence. But the triumphant moment for Google was tempered by concerns that the
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Google Triumphs on the Nobel Stage as Tough Antitrust Fight Looms
Google, thanks to the tens of billions of dollars it makes every year from its online search business, has long pursued giant research projects that could one day change the world. On Wednesday, the Nobel Prize committee conferred considerable prestige to Google's pursuit of big ideas. Demis
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Nobel Prize Goes to 'Godfathers of AI' Who Now Fear Their Work Is Growing Too Powerful
John Hopfield and Geoffrey Hinton developed artificial neural networks that laid the foundation for modern recommendation systems and generative AI. Two AI researchers, John Hopfield and Geoffrey Hinton, received the Nobel Prize in physics on Monday for their work building artificial neural
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Google's Nobel Winners Stir Debate Over AI Research
On Wednesday, Demis Hassabis -- co-founder of Google's AI unit DeepMind -- and colleague John Jumper were awarded the Nobel prize in chemistry, alongside U.S. biochemist David Baker, for their work decoding the structures of microscopic proteins. Former Google researcher Geoffrey Hinton,
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'Godfather of AI' wins Nobel Prize for work he fears threatens humanity
'Flabbergasted' Geoffrey Hinton warned that AI might 'take control.' Geoffrey Hinton, one of the so-called 'Godfathers of AI' has won a Nobel Prize for pioneering the very same technology he fears could result in the "end of people." Hinton and fellow AI researcher John J. Hopfield were awarded
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Nobel Prize in Physics winners say they worry about AI
"I'm hoping AI will lead to tremendous benefits, to tremendous increases in productivity, and to a better life for everybody. I'm convinced that it will do that in healthcare. My worry is that it may also lead to bad things and, in particular, when we get things more intelligent than ourselves. No
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Nobel-winning physicist 'unnerved' by AI technology he helped create
WASHINGTON (AFP) - A US scientist who won the 2024 Nobel physics prize for his pioneering work on artificial intelligence said Tuesday he found recent advances in the technology "very unnerving" and warned of possible catastrophe if not kept in check. John Hopfield, a professor emeritus at
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Nobel laureate Geoffrey Hinton is both AI pioneer and frontman of alarm
Geoffrey Hinton is a walking paradox -- an archetype of a certain kind of brilliant scientist. Hinton's renown was solidified on Wednesday when he won the Nobel prize for physics alongside the American scientist John Hopfield, for discovering neural networks and the computer pathways that lead to
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'Godfather of AI' Geoffrey Hinton just won a Nobel even though he's now scared of AI
Geoffrey Hinton, the oft-recognized 'Godfather of AI' and now-vocal alarm ringer for an AI-infused future, just won a Noble Prize in Physics for his work in - wait for it - training artificial neural networks using physics. That's right, the brilliant Turing Prize-winning scientist most afraid of
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Researcher Who Just Won the Nobel Prize Quit Google to Warn About Evil AI Coming for Us All
Both of the men who won this year's Nobel Prize in Physics are artificial intelligence pioneers -- and one of them is considered the technology's "godfather." As Reuters reports, American physicist John Hopfield and AI expert Geoffrey Hinton were awarded the coveted prize this week. Considered the
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Nobel-winning physicist 'unnerved' by AI technology he helped create
A US scientist who won the 2024 Nobel physics prize for his pioneering work on artificial intelligence said Tuesday he found recent advances in the technology "very unnerving" and warned of possible catastrophe if not kept in check. John Hopfield, a professor emeritus at Princeton, joined
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Nobel-winning physicist 'unnerved' by AI technology he helped create
Nobel laureate John Hopfield expressed alarm at recent AI advancements, highlighting the risks posed by poorly understood deep-learning systems. Alongside co-winner Geoffrey Hinton, they stressed the urgent need for research into AI safety to prevent unforeseen catastrophic consequences, urging
[41]
Nobel-winning physicist 'unnerved' by AI technology he helped create
Washington (AFP) - A US scientist who won the 2024 Nobel physics prize for his pioneering work on artificial intelligence said Tuesday he found recent advances in the technology "very unnerving" and warned of possible catastrophe if it isn't kept in check. John Hopfield, a professor emeritus at
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'They don't just fall out of trees': Nobel awards highlight Britain's AI pedigree
Recognition for Demis Hassabis and Geoffrey Hinton marks moment when important ingredients came together It was more than even the most ardent advocates expected. After all the demonstrations of superhuman prowess, and the debates over whether the technology was humanity's best invention yet or
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Geoffrey Hinton, AI pioneer and figurehead of doomerism, wins Nobel Prize
Speaking on the phone to the Academy minutes after the announcement, Hinton said he was flabbergasted: "I had no idea this would happen. I'm very surprised." Hinton shares the award with fellow computer scientist John Hopfield, who invented a type of pattern-matching neural network that could
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Godfather of AI wins Nobel Prize - but says he regrets invention
A British scientist known as the "Godfather of AI" has won the Nobel Prize for physics - but has regrets about his invention. Prof Geoffrey Hinton, who was born in London and studied at the University of Cambridge, shared the honour with Prof John Hopfield of Princeton University. The 76-year-old
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Google's Glory: How About a Nobel Prize in Competition
Two of its scientists get the prize in Chemistry and Google gets an antitrust complaint from the law firm of Biden, Harris, & Garland. So how is Google rewarded for incubating an artificial intelligence research laboratory, DeepMind, for which two of its scientists, Demis Hassabis and John Jumper,
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Geoffrey Hinton, soft-spoken godfather of AI
For a brief moment in spring last year, the bird-like features of bespectacled British-born researcher Geoffrey Hinton were poking out from TV screens across the world. Hinton, a big name in the world of artificial intelligence but largely unknown outside it, was warning that the technology he had
[47]
Geoffrey Hinton, soft-spoken godfather of AI
Paris (AFP) - For a brief moment in spring last year, the bird-like features of bespectacled British-born researcher Geoffrey Hinton were poking out from TV screens across the world. Hinton, a big name in the world of artificial intelligence but largely unknown outside it, was warning that the
[48]
Who is Geoffrey Hinton? AI 'Godfather' Wins Nobel Prize for AI Breakthroughs -- Calls Chatbots 'Quite Scary'
The scientist left Google in 2023 after a decade to warn about the dangers of AI. British-Canadian scientist Geoffrey Hinton has been awarded the first Nobel Prize for AI alongside scientist John Hopfield. Hinton, known as the 'Godfather of AI,' has been an extremely influential figure in AI. He
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The 2024 Nobel Prizes in Physics and Chemistry recognize AI breakthroughs, igniting discussions about the evolving nature of scientific disciplines and the need to modernize Nobel categories.
AI Takes Center Stage at Nobel Prizes
The 2024 Nobel Prizes in Physics and Chemistry have thrust artificial intelligence (AI) into the spotlight, recognizing groundbreaking work in machine learning and protein structure prediction. This unprecedented focus on AI in two major scientific categories has sparked a lively debate about the nature of scientific disciplines and the relevance of traditional Nobel Prize categories in the modern era
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.Physics Prize Honors Neural Network Pioneers
The Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded to Geoffrey Hinton and John Hopfield for their pioneering work on artificial neural networks. Hinton, known for his contributions to deep learning, and Hopfield, recognized for his work on associative neural networks, laid the foundations for modern machine learning techniques
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.However, this decision has not been without controversy. Some physicists argue that the awarded research falls more within the domain of computer science than physics. Jonathan Pritchard, an astrophysicist at Imperial College London, expressed skepticism about classifying the work as a physics discovery
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.Chemistry Prize Recognizes AI's Role in Protein Science
The Chemistry Nobel was shared between David Baker, Demis Hassabis, and John Jumper. Baker was honored for his work on protein design, while Hassabis and Jumper, from Google DeepMind, were recognized for developing AlphaFold, an AI system that can predict protein structures with remarkable accuracy
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.This award highlights the transformative impact of AI on biochemistry and structural biology. AlphaFold solved a 50-year-old problem in protein structure prediction, demonstrating the power of AI in tackling complex scientific challenges
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.Debate Over Nobel Categories
The AI-centric awards have reignited discussions about the need to modernize Nobel Prize categories. Some scientists, including the laureates themselves, have suggested that the current categories may not adequately reflect the interdisciplinary nature of modern scientific research
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.Hinton noted that his work might be more appropriate for a Nobel Prize in computer science, while Hassabis pointed out that computer science didn't exist when the Nobel Prizes were first established
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. This has led to calls for the Nobel Foundation to consider updating its categories to better represent contemporary scientific fields.Related Stories
Implications for the Future of Science
The recognition of AI in these prestigious awards is likely to have far-reaching effects on the scientific community. It may inspire more researchers to incorporate AI techniques into their work across various disciplines
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.David Jones, a bioinformatician at University College London, suggests that the prizes recognize not only the disruptive force of AI but also the steady accumulation of knowledge in structural and computational biology
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. This highlights the collaborative nature of scientific progress and the increasing role of interdisciplinary approaches.Conclusion
As AI continues to transform scientific research, the 2024 Nobel Prizes serve as a milestone in recognizing its impact. While celebrating these achievements, the scientific community is also grappling with questions about how to categorize and honor breakthroughs that span traditional disciplinary boundaries. The debate surrounding these awards may shape the future of scientific recognition and collaboration in the age of artificial intelligence.
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