The 2024 Nobel Prize in Physics
Copenhagen, Oct 8 (EFE).-
The 2024 Nobel Prize in Physics has been awarded to John J. Hopfield and Geoffrey E. Hinton for their work in artificial intelligence (AI), the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences said Tuesday.
The pair were given the award for “for foundational discoveries and inventions that enable machine learning with artificial neural networks,” the Academy said.
Hopfield, of Princeton University in the United States, created an associative memory that can store and reconstruct images and other types of patterns contained in data.
Hinton, of Canada’s University of Toronto, invented a method that can independently discover properties in data that has become important for large artificial neural networks in use today.
“Although computers cannot think, machines can now mimic functions such as memory and learning,” the Academy said. “This year’s Physics Laureates have helped make this possible.”
“Using fundamental concepts and methods from physics, they have developed technologies that use structures in networks to process information” the institution added.
The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences pointed out how thanks to their work, AI is “revolutionizing science, engineering and daily life”, although it also warned of the risks and the need for responsibility to use these technologies in a safe and ethical way.
The Nobel Prize in Physics is the second of these prestigious awards to be announced, after the Nobel Prize in Medicine was awarded Monday to Americans Victor Ambros and Gary Ruvkun.
In the coming days, winners will be announced in Chemistry, Literature, Peace and finally the Nobel Prize in Economics, on Oct. 14. EFE
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