Nobel Prize committee ’doesn’t want to miss out on AI’ — critics cry foul as Google researchers dominate science awards

The Nobel Prizes awarded to Google-affiliated artificial intelligence researchers this year have raised questions about the company's research dominance in the field. The prestigious awards have also ignited discussions on Big Tech's monopoly and the need to recognise breakthroughs in computer science and mathematics.

A computer scientist and advisor on AI to the United Nations, Professor Dame Wendy Hall said while the recipients’ work deserved recognition, the lack of a Nobel prize for mathematics or computer science had distorted the outcome, reported Reuters.

Debate sparked over the company's dominance, after co-founder of Google's AI unit DeepMind, Demis Hassabis, and colleague John Jumper were awarded the Nobel prize in chemistry, in addition to US biochemist David Baker. The laureates were honoured with the esteemed accolade for their work on decoding the structures of microscopic proteins.

A day earlier, former Google researcher Geoffrey Hinton was awarded with the Nobel prize for physics, alongside US scientist John Hopfield. They won the prestigious honour for earlier discoveries in machine learning that paved the way for the AI boom.

Amid mounting regulatory scrutiny from the US Department of Justice, Google has been on the defensive. The tech giant has been at the forefront of AI research as it tackles competitive pressure from Microsoft-backed OpenAI.

Dame Wendy Hall said, "The Nobel prize committee doesn't want to miss out on this AI stuff, so it's very creative of them to push Geoffrey through the physics route," reported Reuters. She added, "I would argue both are dubious, but nonetheless worthy of a Nobel prize in terms of the science they’ve done. So how else are you going to reward them?"

An associate maths professor at Bentley University, Noah Giansiracusa, arguing that Geoffrey Hinton’s win was questionable, alleged that even if there's inspiration from physics, they're not developing a new theory in physics or solving a longstanding problem in physics. Raising questions, the author of ‘How Algorithms Create and Prevent Fake News’ said, "What he did was phenomenal, but was it physics? I don't think so."

(With inputs from Reuters)