Physics Nobel Prize goes to AI pioneers for work on machine learning

US scientist John Hopfield and British-Canadian researcher Geoffrey Hinton have won the Nobel Prize in Physics for creating the "building blocks of machine learning," the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences announced on Tuesday.

Hopfield works at Princeton University and Hinton, who is known as the "godfather of artificial intelligence," works at the University of Toronto.

"This year’s two Nobel Laureates in Physics have used tools from physics to develop methods that are the foundation of today’s powerful machine learning," the academy said in a press release.

Ellen Moons, chair of the Nobel Committee for Physics, said that their work "has already been of the greatest benefit. In physics we use artificial neural networks in a vast range of areas, such as developing new materials with specific properties."

Machine learning had "become part of our daily lives for instance in facial recognition and language translation," Moons said.

The pair's work created the "building blocks of machine learning that can aid humans in making faster and more reliable decisions."

She noted however that the rapid advance in AI had raised "concerns about our future" as humans and about the ethical use of the technology.

In a call with journalists after the announcement, Hinton said AI will have a huge impact on humanity. "It would be comparable to the Industrial Revolution."

"Instead of exceeding people in physical strength, it's going to exceed people in intellectual ability."

He also echoed the concerns noted by Moons. "I am worried that the overall consequence of this might be systems more intelligent than us that eventually take control," Hinton said. However, he added that despite this, he did not regret his research.

Last year, the academy awarded the prestigious prize to three researchers, Pierro Agostini, Ferenc Krausz and Anne L’Huillier for their work on electrons inside atoms and molecules.

The Nobel Prize in Physics has been awarded almost every year since the first prize in 1901.

US physicist John Bardeen is the only laureate so far who has been awarded the prize twice, in 1956 and 1972.

This year's Nobel week kicked off with the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine on Monday, which was awarded to US scientists Victor Ambros and Gary Ruvkun for their "groundbreaking" discovery of microRNA, a new class of tiny RNA molecules that play a crucial role in gene regulation.

The remaining awards to be announced this week are in chemistry and literature, followed by the Nobel Peace Prize on Friday and the economics prize on Monday.

The prizes themselves are due to be handed over on December 10, the anniversary of the death of Alfred Nobel (1833-96), inventor of dynamite and benefactor of the prizes.

This year, the awards are endowed with 11 million Swedish krona (just over $1 million dollars) per category.