Stockholm (dpa) - This year's Nobel Prize in Physics goes to two pioneers of artificial intelligence. John Hopfield (USA) and Geoffrey Hinton (Canada) have made decisive inventions that enable machine learning with artificial neural networks, announced the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences in Stockholm. Such systems are now revolutionizing science, technology and everyday life.

"Geoffrey Hinton is often referred to as the 'Godfather of AI', and rightly so," said Rasmus Rothe, founding board member of the AI Association. His work has been fundamental to the entire field of research for years. Hopfield also laid the foundation for many advances in machine learning through his innovations in essential areas. "Only with today's progress, through companies like OpenAI and the enormous contribution of modern researchers, can we fully appreciate the early influence of these pioneers."

Artificial intelligence pioneer Geoffrey Hinton speaks at the Collision Conference © Chris Young/The Canadian Press/AP

In Hinton's opinion, artificial intelligence will have a huge impact on humanity. "It will be comparable to the Industrial Revolution," he said when he joined the award announcement by telephone. "But instead of surpassing humans in physical strength, it will surpass humans in intellectual ability."

The "Godfather of AI" is now a critic

The "Godfather of AI" - for example: The "Godfather of AI" is now one of its biggest critics. "We have no experience of what it's like when things are more intelligent than we are," he said. In many ways this will be wonderful, for example in the case of more efficient healthcare and improvements in productivity. "But we also have to worry about a number of potential negative consequences, particularly the risk of these things getting out of control. "

Hinton quit his job at Google Brain, the company's AI research team, last year in order to be able to speak freely about the risks of AI. Together with other leading AI researchers, he published several statements on the subject. They see AI as a potential threat to humanity and call for the risks to be taken seriously.

Hopfield network and Boltzmann machine

John Hopfield (91) developed a network named after him that uses a method for storing and restoring patterns. Hinton (76) used this as the basis for another network: the Boltzmann machine. This can learn to recognize characteristic elements in a certain type of data - such as certain elements in images.

The inspiration comes from the structure of the brain. In an artificial neural network, the neurons of the brain are represented by nodes that influence each other through connections comparable to synapses in the brain. The network is trained, for example, by establishing stronger connections between certain nodes.

Research and development in this area has progressed rapidly in recent years. Modern systems are based on more complex architectures and can handle enormous amounts of data. "The work of the award winners is already of great benefit. In physics, we use artificial neural networks in a variety of areas, for example in the development of new materials with specific properties," said Ellen Moons, Chair of the Nobel Committee for Physics.

Basis for chatbots

Hopfield and Hinton's early models also laid important foundations for modern AI chatbot systems. "Hinton also laid the foundations for ChatGPT: his calculation rule makes it possible to learn how to recognize what comes next from a sequence of words," said Bernhard Schölkopf from the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems in Tübingen.

Award winners conducted research in numerous fields

Hinton was born in London and studied philosophy and physics at Cambridge University before switching to experimental psychology. He wrote his doctoral thesis on AI in 1978. He later moved to the USA, where he researched the fundamentals of neural networks. Because much of the AI research in the USA at the time was funded by the military and he rejected the use of the technology in combat, he moved to Canada in 1987.

Hopfield comes from Chicago. He studied physics and worked in laboratories before moving first to the University of California in Berkeley and then to Princeton University in the early 1960s. He returned to Princeton in 1997 after holding numerous positions, for example at the US space agency NASA and on a scientific advisory committee to the US President. Where he was once Professor of Physics, he is now Professor of Molecular Biology.

"What still fascinates me the most is the question of how the mind comes out of the machine," said Hopfield in an interview with the Franklin Institute Science Museum. That is why his research focuses on memory.

Highly endowed award

The most important award for physicists this year is endowed with a total of eleven million crowns (just under 970,000 euros). The Nobel Prize winners for medicine were announced on Monday: US-Americans Victor Ambros and Gary Ruvkun will be honored for the discovery of microRNA and its role in gene regulation. The announcements for the Nobel Prizes in Chemistry, Literature and Peace will follow this week and next Monday for the Nobel Prize in Economics sponsored by the Swedish Riksbank. The ceremonial presentation of the awards traditionally takes place on December 10, the anniversary of the death of prize donor Alfred Nobel.