Geoffrey Hinton. Image: Chris Bellew/Fennell Photography
Hinton’s research into deep learning paved the way for the rise of AI systems, but he has also spoken out about the dangers this technology poses for the future.
Geoffrey Hinton, a renowned pioneer of AI research – and recent AI warnings – has been awarded the Ulysses Medal by University College Dublin (UCD) for his contributions to society.
Hinton has led research groups on deep learning and neural networks and is credited with the idea of backpropagation – a way of training artificial neural networks to be more accurate by feeding error rates back through them, reducing the need for continued input from a human.
UCD said deep learning has revolutionised various industries and transformed search engines, natural language processing, speech recognition, finance, medicine, agriculture and “countless other fields”.
Hinton’s research paved the way for the rise of generative AI, as these techniques allow models like ChatGPT to be trained on massive amounts of data to interpret prompts and generate responses.
He is known as the godfather of AI for his work in these fields and was awarded the Ulysses Medal – the highest honour UCD can bestow – for his various achievements. Previous recipients of the medal include Prof Noam Chomsky, novelist Frank McGuinness, Nobel Prize-winning poet Seamus Heaney and former Irish President Mary McAleese.
Hinton was presented with the medal by university president Prof Orla Feely during a ceremony at the campus in Belfield, Dublin. Dr Andrew Hines said Hinton spent decades “understanding the human brain to draw inspiration” for the creation of better computer learning models.
“Now that these technologies are integrated into products and services we use every day, the moniker of ‘godfather of AI’ is not an exaggeration,” Hines said.
Concerns around AI
Last year, Hinton left his job at Google so that he could speak freely about the dangers of AI and has warned about how rapidly AI technology is developing, noting the difference in these systems now compared to five or six years ago.
In interviews last year, Hinton said his immediate concerns with AI were the risks of fake images, videos and text that could flood the internet, along with the fear that the average person will “not be able to know what is true anymore”.
He also raised concerns that – in time – AI will cause a commotion to the job market because, while these systems can “take away the drudge work”, they could become more versatile in the future.
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