Geoffrey Hinton: The story of the British 'Godfather of AI' - who's not sat down since 2005

"I last sat down in 2005," Geoffrey Hinton often says, "and it was a mistake". Now 73, the British computer scientist has spent his entire career driving forward the field of artificial intelligence (AI), doing almost all of his work while standing due to back injuries beginning in his teens. By the time he reached his 50s, Mr Hinton's back problems were so severe that he decided to just stop sitting down. These days, when travelling by car he lies sprawled across the back seat - and he eats "like a monk at the altar" by kneeling on a foam cushion before the table. "If you let it completely control your life, it doesn't give you any problems," he told Cade Metz, a journalist for The New York Times, who has detailed his life in the book Genius Makers.