Pioneers of AI win Nobel Prize in physics for laying the groundwork of machine learning

Alex Galvagni, CEO of Age of Learning and a former artificial intelligence researcher with NASA, says advances in AI now make it possible to deliver to children "a personalized and supportive" experience in education. Two pioneers of artificial intelligence -- John Hopfield and Geoffrey Hinton -- won the Nobel Prize in physics Tuesday for helping create the building blocks of machine learning that is revolutionizing the way we work and live but also creates new threats for humanity. Hinton, who is known as the godfather of artificial intelligence, is a citizen of Canada and Britain who works at the University of Toronto, and Hopfield is an American working at Princeton. "These two gentlemen were really the pioneers," said Nobel physics committee member Mark Pearce. "They ... did the fundamental work, based on physical understanding which has led to the revolution we see today in machine learning and artificial intelligence."