Neural networks, machine learning? Nobel-winning AI science explained [Video]

The Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded to two scientists on Tuesday for discoveries that laid the groundwork for the artificial intelligence used by hugely popular tools such as ChatGPT.

British-Canadian Geoffrey Hinton, known as a “godfather of AI,” and US physicist John Hopfield were given the prize for “discoveries and inventions that enable machine learning with artificial neural networks,” the Nobel jury said.

But what are those, and what does this all mean? Here are some answers.

– What are neural networks and machine learning? –

Mark van der Wilk, an expert in machine learning at the University of Oxford, told AFP that an artificial neural network is a mathematical construct “loosely inspired” by the human brain.

Our brains have a network of cells called neurons, which respond to outside stimuli — such as things our eyes have seen or ears have heard — by sending signals to each other.

When we learn things, some connections between neurons …