Pioneers of AI win Nobel Prize in physics for contributions to machine learning [Video]

• John Hopfield and Geoffrey Hinton won the Nobel Prize in Physics for their foundational work in artificial intelligence.
• Hinton, known as the godfather of AI, is a dual citizen of Canada and Britain, and Hopfield is an American working at Princeton University.
• Hopfield and Hinton laid the groundwork for the machine learning revolution, according to Mark Pearce, a member of the Nobel physics committee.

Two pioneers of artificial intelligence — John Hopfield and Geoffrey Hinton — won the Nobel Prize in physics Tuesday for helping create the building blocks of machine learning that is revolutionizing the way we work and live but also creates new threats for humanity.

Hinton, who is known as the godfather of artificial intelligence, is a citizen of Canada and Britain who works at the University of Toronto, and Hopfield is an American working at Princeton.

“These two gentlemen were really the pioneers,” said Nobel physics …