Machine learning research wins 2024 Nobel Prize in Physics

The 2024 Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded to two scientists, John J. Hopfield and Geoffrey E. Hinton, for their research on machine learning at 4:45 p.m. on October 8 (Hanoi time).

The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences has named John J. Hopfield, 91, a professor at Princeton University in New Jersey, the United States, and Geoffrey E. Hinton, 77, a British man, a professor at the University of Toronto in Canada. The two scholars used the tools of physics to develop methods that laid the foundation for today's machine learning.

When it comes to artificial intelligence, people often talk about machine learning technology using artificial neural networks. This technology was originally inspired by the structure of the brain. In artificial neural networks, the brain's neurons are represented by nodes with different values. These nodes interact with each other through connections that can be likened to synapses and can be adjusted to be stronger or weaker. Neural networks are trained, for example, by developing stronger connections between nodes that have high values ​​at the same time. This year's two laureates have done important work with artificial neural networks since the 1980s.

Scientists John Hopfield and Geoffrey Hinton won the 2024 Nobel Prize in Physics. (Photo: Nobel Prize).

John Hopfield invented a network that uses a method of storing and reproducing patterns. The nodes can be thought of as pixels. Hopfield networks use physics to describe the properties of materials in terms of atomic spins - the properties that make each atom a tiny magnet. The entire network, described in terms of the energy in a physical spin system, is trained by finding values ​​that link nodes so that the stored image has a low energy. When a distorted or incomplete image is fed into the Hopfield network, it systematically works through the nodes and updates their values ​​so that the energy of the network decreases. The network thus works step by step to find the stored image that most closely resembles the imperfect image just fed.

Geoffrey Hinton used the Hopfield network as the foundation for a new network that used a different approach: the Boltzmann machine . It could learn to recognize specific patterns in a given type of data. Hinton used tools from statistical physics—the science of systems built from many similar parts. Scientists train machines by feeding them examples that are likely to arise as they run. Boltzmann machines can be used to classify images or generate new examples of the same type as the ones they were trained on. Hinton built on this work, helping machine learning take off into the explosive growth it has today.

Hinton, who has been called the godfather of artificial intelligence (AI), said he was surprised to receive the award. Asked about the potential of the technology Hinton helped develop, he said 'AI will have a huge impact' on society.

"It's comparable to the industrial revolution. But instead of surpassing humans in physical strength, it will surpass humans in intellectual ability. We have no experience of what happens when there are things that are smarter than humans ," he said in a phone interview after the Nobel announcement.

Ellen Moons, chair of the Nobel Assembly for Physics, commented: " The work of the laureates has brought great benefits. In physics, we use artificial neural networks in many areas, for example to develop new materials with certain properties."

Last year, the Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded to three scientists, Pierre Agostini, Ferenc Krausz and Anne L'Huillier, for their research on electrons inside atoms and molecules.

The Nobel Prize is an international award established by the Nobel Foundation in Stockholm in 1901 based on the estate of Alfred Nobel, the Swedish inventor and businessman.

The prize is awarded annually to individuals and organizations with outstanding contributions in the fields of Medicine, Chemistry, Physics, Literature, and Peace. In 1968, the Swedish Central Bank established the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Nobel, also known as the Nobel Prize in Economics.

Each award consists of a medal, a personal certificate and a variable prize money. From 1901 to 2023, the prize has been awarded 622 times to 1,002 individuals and organizations around the world.