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Scientists Who Developed the Building Blocks of Artificial Intelligence Win Nobel Prize in Physics

John Hopfield and Geoffrey Hinton shared the award for their work on artificial neural networks and machine learning

Sarah Kuta

Daily Correspondent

Man in a black suit standing in front of a projector screen with photos of two men
John Hopfield and Geoffrey Hinton won the Nobel Prize in Physics for their work on artificial neural networks and machine learning. Jonathan Nackstrand / AFP via Getty Images

A pair of scientists—John Hopfield and Geoffrey Hinton—won the 2024 Nobel Prize in Physics on Tuesday for their work on artificial neural networks and machine learning.

The two men are credited with developing the foundational underpinnings of modern artificial intelligence.

“Thanks to their work, humanity now has a new item in its toolbox, which we can choose to use for good purposes,” the Nobel committee posted on social media. “Machine learning based on artificial neural networks is currently revolutionizing science, engineering and daily life.”

Artificial neural networks are computer systems that have been trained to process information and make connections in a way similar to how the human brain works. In addition to giving rise to A.I. that powers chatbots and data processing, the technology has been used to help advance research in particle physics, material science and astrophysics, according to the committee.

Born in Chicago, Hopfield is now an emeritus professor at Princeton University. In the early 1980s, he developed the Hopfield network, a model for machines that’s based on how the human brain stores and recalls memories.

Hinton was born in England but spent much of his life in the United States and Canada. He’s a computer scientist at the University of Toronto who most recently worked as a researcher and vice president at Google. He developed a neural network structure similar to Hopfield’s called the Boltzmann machine, which was capable of learning and extracting patterns from large data sets. It could recognize familiar traits in information it had never seen before.

Though A.I. may seem unrelated to physics, the committee noted that both men’s networks were rooted in the physical sciences.

“Using fundamental concepts and methods from physics, they have developed technologies that use structures in networks to process information,” according to the committee.

Still, not everyone was convinced by the committee’s decision to award the physics prize to researchers whose work focused on A.I.

“There is no Nobel Prize for computer science, so this is an interesting way of creating one, but it does seem a bit of a stretch,” says Wendy Hall, a computer scientist at the University of Southampton in England and a member of the United Nations’ A.I. advisory body, to the Guardian’s Ian Sample. “Clearly artificial neural networks are having a profound effect on physics research, but is it fair to say that in themselves they are the result of physics research?”

Hinton is known as the “the Godfather of A.I.” Last year, he made headlines after he resigned from his post at Google and began speaking publicly about the dangers of the technology he helped create. He worries the generative A.I. that powers programs like ChatGPT will eventually outsmart humans and could be used by bad actors to cause harm.

He has said repeatedly that part of him regrets his life’s work. Last year, he told the New York Times’ Cade Metz that he consoles himself with the excuse that if he hadn’t developed the technology, someone else would have.

“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,” he said on Tuesday during the Nobel Prize announcement ceremony, as reported by CNN’s Christian Edwards and Katie Hunt.

Hinton emphasized that A.I. could benefit society, such as by boosting productivity or leading to improvements in healthcare, in an interview with reporters after the announcement. But he also warned about “a number of possible bad consequences,” including the possibility of “these things getting out of control.”

“It will be comparable with the Industrial Revolution,” he added. “But instead of exceeding people in physical strength, it’s going to exceed people in the intellectual ability. We have no experience of what it’s like to have things smarter than us.”

Last year’s Nobel Prize in Physics went to three researchers studying the behavior of fast-moving electrons.

All this week, the Nobel committee is revealing the winners of its awards in various categories—from chemistry to literature to peace. On Monday, it awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine to two American scientists who discovered microRNA. Each prize comes with a monetary award of 11 million Swedish kronor (about $1 million), which is split if multiple laureates are recognized.

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Sarah Kuta

Sarah Kuta is a writer and editor based in Longmont, Colorado. She covers history, science, travel, food and beverage, sustainability, economics and other topics.