It still seems incredible to us to think about how quickly artificial intelligence has advanced and the changes it has made in such a short time in humanity. It feels like it's been longer, but it was only on November 30, 2022, when the company OpenAI launched its ChatGPT project. This conversational bot changed everything from the processes of entire companies to the way education was conceived. Its conquest has been of such magnitude that the Nobel Prize committee awarded John Hopfield and Geoffrey Hinton the prize in Physics for discoveries and inventions that laid the foundations of machine learning and artificial intelligence. That is the dimension of the conquest of artificial intelligence concerning the methods that have changed, the tools available to us today, and present and future inventions.

Referring to the universe of Artificial Intelligence is like entering a deep sea full of complications that generate solutions. The award-winning researchers have used tools from physics to develop methods that are the basis of today's powerful machine learning. This gave the Nobel committee enough reasons to choose them. It is not a minor issue that these have been the merits to win such a prestigious award.

Professor Hopfield conducts his research at Princeton University, while Professor Hinton works at the University of Toronto. Both laureates applied fundamental concepts from statistical physics to designing artificial neural networks that function as associative memories and find patterns in large batches of data.

We may believe that Artificial Intelligence processes are complex — and they undoubtedly are — but the ease of using them in our daily activities is what allowed their applicability to be so popular and become so widespread. That is the paradigm through which Artificial Intelligence works, which is fast and accurate. For example, facial recognition by our mobile phones is just one example of this applicability. Our biometric data is used today to recognize us when entering and exiting an office or when accessing our bank accounts or various digital platforms. Something that we used to imagine as a science fiction fantasy, today is part of our daily lives.

The achievements of Artificial Intelligence will be as relevant as the progress generated by the Industrial Revolution. The leap is as great as the one experienced when artisanal production was exchanged for factory production. And, although I am sure that there was resistance and voices that criticized or went against it, in the face of progress there is no alternative. There are those who embrace it and those who do not, those who jump on the trend and those who are left behind.

Of course, the benefits and their effects are already evident. Professor Hinton predicted that artificial intelligence would "end up having a huge influence on civilization and lead to improvements in productivity and healthcare." This gives hope to people who suffer or see suffering from diseases that today seem to have no cure.

However, we cannot be naïve. In addition to applauding the progress and advances that Artificial Intelligence brings, we must also open our eyes, pay attention, and realize that not everything is pristine and perfect. It is necessary to address the concerns that are expressed about a series of possible bad consequences, such as the alteration of photographs — we already saw the Father in a very elegant white coat from Dolce & Gabbana — as well as other types of fraud and bad practices. We must consider the threat of these things getting out of control.

Of course, all that glitters is not gold. Although the committee awarded them the Nobel Prize in Physics, it also recognized that the science behind machine learning and artificial intelligence has its negative aspects. We need to understand that while machine learning has enormous benefits, its rapid development has also raised fears about our future. Fears that are legitimate.

Humanity in general, and each of us in particular, has a responsibility to use this new technology in a safe and ethical way for the greater benefit of human beings. We cannot cover the sun with one finger. Even Professor Hinton himself shares those concerns. He explains that he left a position at Google so he could speak more freely about the dangers of the technology he helped create. We must listen to the voices that warn about the excesses and misuses of technological advances.

Professor Hinton acknowledged being shocked by the recognition. "I'm dumbfounded. I had no idea this was going to happen," he said when contacted by the Nobel committee by phone. It is time to understand that machines learn and take charge of laying the foundations for the development of Artificial Intelligence. We thought that learning was an attribute of animal brains and now we see that artificial brains can also learn.

The work of both scientists has helped computers to be able to imitate human functions such as memory and learning. Hopfield created an associative memory in 1982, which could store and reconstruct images and other types of patterns in data. Hinton, for his part, developed a method that allows a machine to find properties in data autonomously and thus perform tasks such as identifying specific elements in images. These investigations and achievements paved the way for artificial intelligence systems such as ChatGPT.

"We have no experience of what it's like to have smarter things than us," he said. "It's going to be wonderful in many ways, but we also have to worry about a number of potential negative consequences." And, yes, the professor himself declares: "My guess is that, within five or 20 years, there will be a 50% chance that we will have to face the problem of artificial intelligence trying to take control of our lives."

To do this, we need to get down to work today and not 50 years from now. We need to lay the foundations for a responsible and ethical use of Artificial Intelligence, to enjoy its benefits, and to restrict its dark aspects. That way, we can enjoy the conquests of Artificial Intelligence before allowing it to conquer us.