The Nobel prize for physics usually goes to someone who has come up with complex answers to even more complex questions. Often the research rewarded is so rarefied that few understand its significance — at the time or at any time.
This week was different. When the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences awarded the 2024 Nobel prize in physics to John Hopfield and legendary AI scientist Geoffrey Hinton for their pioneering work on artificial neural networks, it celebrated work that has become pivotal to a revolution now sweeping the business world.
While they did not invent the field, they “used tools from physics to develop methods that are the foundation of today’s powerful machine learning”, as the academy put it.
Hopfield’s work on associative memory and Hinton’s methods that autonomously find properties in data were not just academic triumphs, they made possible AI’s integration into industries such as finance, health care and e-commerce, thanks to systems that can mimic human learning, recognise patterns, and perform tasks once thought impossible for machines.
That makes this year’s award unusually topical — and universally popular.
The two scientists’ achievement is a testament to the power of researchers building on the work of those who have gone before them. Hopfield invented a network using a method for saving and recreating patterns. Hinton then used Hopfield’s network as the foundation for a new one that can learn to recognise patterns in data.
For business, the award highlights how complex research done decades ago can enable a leap from purely academic explorations to real-world applications.
While the business world’s rapid adoption of AI has led to staggering growth ... it has also created an ethical minefield
The award is deeply appropriate for another reason: it has gone to two scientists who are leading voices of caution on the dangers of uncontrolled use of AI.
Hinton in 2023 resigned his position as a vice-president at Google so he could “speak freely about the dangers of AI”.
While the business world’s rapid adoption of AI has led to staggering growth — with tools that optimise supply chains, predict market trends and automate decision-making processes — it has also created an ethical minefield. Hinton has been outspoken about how AI poses a greater existential threat than many other technologies combined if it is not regulated. However, he admits there is no “simple recipe” for this control.
He told the Nobel website after being named prize winner: “With climate change, everybody knows what needs to be done. We need to stop burning carbon. It’s just a question of the political will to do that, and large companies making big profits not being willing to do that. But it’s clear what we need to do. Here we’re dealing with something where we have much less idea of what’s going to happen and what to do about it.”
He said humanity was at a “bifurcation point in history” and needed to figure out if there was even a way to deal with the threat.
“One thing governments can do is force big companies to spend a lot more of their resources on safety research,” he counselled.
Hopfield said in an address after the prize announcement, “As a physicist, I’m very unnerved by something which has no control, something which I don’t understand well enough so that I can understand what are the limits [to] which one could drive that technology. That’s the question AI is pushing.”
These are not vague musings. Awarding Hinton and Hopfield the Nobel prize serves as both a celebration and a warning. For companies rushing to develop or adopt AI, this year’s Nobel prize should not be seen only as a nod to innovation, but also as a call to engage in discussion about the risks and responsibilities associated with it.
• Goldstuck is CEO of World Wide Worx, editor-in-chief of Gadget.co.za, and author of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to AI. Follow him on social media on @art2gee
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