A Nobel Prize-powered gift from Geoffrey Hinton is boosting an Ontario water charity [Video]

The Canadian winner of this year’s Nobel Prize in physics is pouring hundreds of thousands of dollars from his winnings into a small Ontario-based organization.

Geoffrey Hinton, a so-called godfather of artificial intelligence, is not boosting the latest tech startup or funding an initiative to counter the dangers of AI that he so often warns about.

He is instead helping a group focused on something more down to Earth: supporting Indigenous Peoples in accessing fresh water.

Sarah Jayne Kendall, community engagement director at Water First Education and Training Inc., said she is grateful to Hinton for the substantial donation — but also for the attention he is bringing to the organization’s work.

“It really speaks volumes to him being an individual who’s utilizing his platform to raise awareness and support for an ongoing issue that has been going on throughout this country,” she said.

About 13 per cent of First Nations communities in Canada are affected by a drinking …