Nobel Prizes 2024: AI research honored

In October 2024, the Nobel Committee recognized the impact of artificial intelligence on science with two prizes. For the first time, the foundations of machine learning and their application to the natural sciences were honored at the highest level.

Physics: Hinton and Hopfield

Geoffrey Hinton and John Hopfield received the Nobel Prize in Physics for their foundational work on neural networks. Their ideas from the 1980s form the basis of the deep learning that powers modern AI. Hinton, often called the "godfather of AI", also warned prominently that same year about the risks of the technology.

Chemistry: AlphaFold

Demis Hassabis and John Jumper of Google DeepMind shared the Nobel Prize in Chemistry with David Baker. Hassabis and Jumper were lauded for AlphaFold, which predicts the 3D structure of virtually all known proteins — a breakthrough that profoundly accelerates drug discovery and biology.

A turning point

The prizes marked a turning point: AI is no longer a sidelined tool, but an engine behind scientific discoveries. It also sharpened the debate on recognition, responsibility, and safety of AI.