Stockholm: John Hopfield and Geoffrey Hinton have been awarded the 2024 Nobel Prize in Physics for their groundbreaking discoveries that laid the foundation for modern machine learning. The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences announced the prize on Tuesday, recognizing the duo’s pioneering work in developing artificial neural networks that function as associative memories and help find patterns in large data sets.

Hopfield, from Princeton University, and Hinton, from the University of Toronto, used concepts from statistical physics to revolutionize artificial intelligence (AI), creating tools that have had a profound impact on both research and everyday technology, including facial recognition and language translation.

“These methods are the cornerstone of today’s powerful machine learning systems,” said Ellen Moons, a member of the Nobel committee, highlighting the broad significance of their work.

This award, which carries a cash prize of 11 million Swedish kronor ($1 million), comes as part of a week of Nobel Prize announcements. The laureates will receive their honors at a ceremony on December 10, commemorating the anniversary of the death of the prize's founder, Alfred Nobel.