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the benefits of its leadership position have allowed Google and other major technology companies to leapfrog traditional academia in publishing groundbreaking AI research (Photo: Shutterstock)
This week’s awarding of the Nobel Prizes in chemistry and physics to a small number of artificial intelligence pioneers affiliated with Google has sparked debate about the company’s dominance in research and how advances in computing should be recognized.
Google has been at the forefront of AI research, but has been forced onto the defensive in the face of competitive pressure from Microsoft-backed OpenAI and increasing regulatory scrutiny from the U.S. Department of Commerce. Justice.
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On Wednesday, Demis Hassabis, co-founder of DeepMind, Google’s AI unit, and his colleague John Jumper received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry, alongside American biochemist David Baker, for their work decoding protein structures microscopic.
Former Google researcher Geoffrey Hinton won the Nobel Prize in physics on Tuesday, alongside American scientist John Hopfield, for his earlier discoveries in machine learning that paved the way for the technology boom. AI.
Professor Dame Wendy Hall, a computer scientist and AI adviser to the United Nations, told Reuters that while the work of the winners deserved recognition, the lack of a Nobel Prize for mathematics or computer science had skewed the result.
“The Nobel Prize committee doesn’t want to miss this topic of AI, so it’s very creative of them to push Geoffrey down the path of physics,” she said. “I would say both are questionable, but nevertheless worthy of a Nobel Prize in terms of the science they have done. So how else are you going to reward them?” Noah Giansiracusa, associate professor of mathematics at Bentley University and author of “How Algorithms Create and Prevent Fake News,” also argued that Hinton’s victory was questionable.
“What he did was phenomenal, but was it physics? I don’t think so. Even if it’s inspired by physics, they’re not developing a new theory in physics or solving a physics problem for a long time.”
The Nobel Prize categories for achievements in medicine or physiology, physics, chemistry, literature and peace were set out in the will of Swedish inventor Alfred Nobel, who died in 1895. The economics prize is a later addition created through a grant from the Swedish government. central bank in 1968.
Dominance
U.S. regulators are currently considering a possible split from Google, which could force it to divest parts of its businesses, such as its Chrome browser and Android operating system, which some say allow it to maintain an illegal monopoly in online research.
The benefits of its leadership position have allowed Google and other major technology companies to leapfrog traditional academia in publishing groundbreaking AI research.
Hinton himself has expressed some regret about his life’s work, leaving Google last year so he could speak freely about the dangers of AI, and warning that computers could become smarter than humans much sooner than foreseen.
Speaking at a press conference on Tuesday, he said: “I wish I had some sort of simple recipe that if you do this you’ll be fine, but that’s not the case, particularly in about the existential threat of these things happening.” out of control and taking over. »
When he left Google in 2023 over AI concerns, Hinton said the company itself acted very responsibly.
For some, the Nobel Prizes won this week highlight how difficult it is becoming for traditional academia to compete. Giansiracusa told Reuters there was a need to invest more in research.
“Much of Big Tech is not focused on the next breakthrough in deep learning, but rather on making money by pushing chatbots or serving ads all over the internet,” he said. he declared. “There are pockets of innovation, but a lot of it is very unscientific.”
(Only the title and image of this report may have been reworked by Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
First publication: October 10, 2024 | 3:03 p.m. STI
