2024 Nobel laureate Geoffrey Hinton, whose pioneering work helped launch the AI revolution, is the namesake of new NSERC prizes supporting the next generation of AI-driven discovery. (Photo credit: Christopher Michel)
The Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) has announced the launch of the Geoffrey Hinton Prizes as a joint initiative of the council’s Discovery Grant Program.
The award is named in honour of Hinton, who shared the 2024 Nobel Prize in physics
for pioneering discoveries and inventions that enabled machine learning with artificial neural networks, work that laid the foundation for today’s artificial intelligence (AI) boom. Hinton is a University Professor Emeritus with the Department of Computer Science in the Faculty of Arts & Science; he is also Strategic Advisor at the Schwartz Reisman Institute for Technology and Society at the University of Toronto.
Each year, up to three NSERC Geoffrey Hinton Prizes — valued at $100,000 each — will be awarded. They recognize Discovery Grant applicants whose creative application of AI in the natural sciences and engineering (NSE) sector has generated or is poised to generate significant impact. The award aims to accelerate discovery and innovation by recognizing and supporting early-stage researchers from any NSE discipline who are leveraging AI in novel, innovative and impactful ways. More details about the prizes and how to apply are available on the U of T Research Funding Opportunities site (UTORID required).
“I’m honoured to have these prizes named after me,” says Hinton. “I’m excited to see them support young researchers who are trying new things with AI.
“I think these researchers are going to find ways of using it to solve really difficult problems. This includes problems we haven’t even thought of yet, and the problem of how to develop AI safely, which is now my main focus at the Schwartz Reisman Institute.”
Hinton joins the list of U of T researchers and leaders whose names have been bestowed on prominent awards, including former U of T president John R. Evans and University Professor Emeritus and Nobel laureate John C. Polanyi.
“Professor Hinton helped lay the foundations for the AI age in which we live, for which he has deservedly won a Nobel Prize,” says Stephen Wright, dean of the Faculty of Arts & Science.
“Today, his advocacy for the ethical development of this world-changing technology demonstrates leadership in the creation of a humane AI future. And now, with the NSERC Geoffrey Hinton Prizes, his name will also be associated with training the next generation of AI researchers shaping that promising future.”