Today, John Hopfield and Geoffrey Hinton received the Nobel Prize in Physics for groundbreaking statistical methods that have advanced physics, chemistry, biology, and more. In the announcement, Ellen Moons,

The computer scientist Geoffrey Hinton spoke with The Times shortly after learning he had won the Nobel Prize for Physics.

Hinton, 76, helped develop a technique in the 1980s known as backpropagation instrumental in training machines how to 'learn' by fine-tuning errors until they disappear.

Instead of giving the physics prize to pioneers in physics, the academy on Tuesday gave the award to Princeton professor John Hopfield and University of Toronto professor Geoffrey Hinton for their work on AI and machine learning.

John Hopfield and Geoffrey Hinton have won the physics Nobel Prize for formative work on artificial intelligence that has helped drive scientific advances but raised fears about the risks of abuse. The award highlights the fundamental role the AI field of machine learning now plays in research,