Three 2024 Nobel Laureates in Chemistry and Physics are or have been affiliated with Google and are known as AI pioneers.
Demis Hassabis, the founder of Google’s DeepMind AI unit, and John Jumper, the director of Google’s DeepMind AI Unit, won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry alongside Biochemist David Baker for their work in deconstructing micro-proteins with AI to better comprehend the body’s functions and how diseases impact it.
Geoffrey Hinton, who resigned from Google due to fears of AI technology, won the Nobel Prize in Physics alongside Princeton University Professor John Hopfield for upgrading Hopfield’s network to a system that functions similarly to AI, laying the groundwork for the technology.
Criticism of Google’s Nobel Laureates
Since Google’s Nobel Laureates were awarded the prizes, many have criticized the Nobel Committee’s decision to grant them.
Professor Dame Wendy Hall, an advisor on AI to the United Nations, has said that the awards this year have more to do with the Nobel Committee’s acknowledgment of AI’s importance than the Google Nobel Laureates’ work concerning their respective prizes.
“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,” said Hall. “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?”
While no one denies the stellar achievements of Google’s Nobel Laureates, some do question whether their work meets the criteria for the prizes they are winning.
Noah Giansiracusa, an author and associate math professor at Bentley University, said, “What he did was phenomenal, but was it physics? I don’t think so. Even if there’s inspiration from physics, they’re not developing a new theory in physics or solving a longstanding problem in physics.”
Oren Etzioni, a professor emeritus of computer science at the University of Washington, sees awarding Google’s Nobel Laureates as the Nobel Committee’s way of recognizing the significance of AI in today’s world.
“This is the year the Nobel Committee got AI,” said Etzioni. “These prizes are a conscious recognition of how influential AI has become in the scientific world.”
Recognition amid Google antitrust case
While having three Nobel Prize winners associated with their brand is an achievement, this also comes amid controversy over Google’s monopoly controversy. Google’s Nobel Laureates bring positive publicity to the company, but it may not ultimately change their fate.
The US Department of Justice (DOJ) has been weighing the impact of forcing the tech giant breakup, claiming they have a monopoly over the search engine world.
In a court filing on Tuesday, the DOJ said, “Google’s unlawful conduct persisted for over a decade and involved a number of self-reinforcing tactics…Unwinding that illegal behavior and achieving the goals of an effective antitrust remedy takes time.”
While the DOJ intends to pursue Google and force them to break up their alleged monopoly, the task could take time. Meanwhile, Google will appeal the hearing to buy themselves more time.
There is controversy over their business practices, but there is also the question of whether the scientists could have done their work without Google’s enormous backing. Google was able to fund its Nobel Laureates’ research because of its incredible success and market dominance.