‘VinFuture makes world scientists pay more attention to Vietnam’

Prof. Geoffrey Hinton (University of Toronto, Canada) is one of five scientists who won the main VinFuture Prize 2024 at the award ceremony held on December 6 in Hanoi. According to Prof. Geoffrey Hintont, the VinFuture Prize has flexibility and unique categories to honor innovations that help improve human life. Below is his sharing about the prize as well as its impact on global scientists.

Professor Geoffrey Hinton said the VinFuture Prize is flexible in choosing the scientists to be honored. Photo: VinFuture

– How do you feel about being one of the 5 main prize winners of VinFuture 2024?

– I was very surprised when I became the owner of the highest prize, worth up to 3 million USD. This number was much bigger than what I imagined. Even when I told my wife, she thought I was joking and I had to use email to prove it.

I also think the organizers are very generous with the value of the prize. Before that, I had not had the opportunity to learn much about Vietnam or Vingroup. Therefore, I was very surprised that a fund founded by Vietnamese entrepreneurs could organize such a large-scale award. Now, I am very impressed with Vingroup’s rapid success and surprised by Vietnam’s rapid development.

– What do you think when the award is simultaneously given to four other individuals, one of whom is not a scholar?

– I am very happy to be recognized with Mr. Jensen Huang and Prof. Fei-Fei Li. Computational power is one of the most important factors in developing neural networks, and Nvidia’s chips are excellent. Not only the hardware but also the software makes it easier to use. Meanwhile, Prof. Fei-Fei Li has created a large database to test programs that can recognize objects in images. Both have played an important role in the development of deep learning.

As for awarding the award to Nvidia CEO, I think it makes perfect sense. People like Jensen Huang, who has contributed through hardware at Nvidia — or Jeff Dean at Google and Demis Hassabis at DeepMind — have all played important roles in the development of AI. And they all work in the industry.

I think it’s nice that the award celebrates people who really make essential contributions to this development, regardless of where they work.

Professor Hinton received the Nobel Prize in Physics at a ceremony held on December 10. Photo: Globe and Mail

– Having received many international awards, what do you think is different about VinFuture?

– I think the award to Mr. Jensen Huang is a clear demonstration that VinFuture is highly flexible, not limited by the scope of categories like many other award systems. Being a young award can be an advantage that helps VinFuture adapt easily and have a fresh approach. VinFuture has taken advantage of this strength to honor deserving scientists.

In addition to the main prize, VinFuture also has special prizes with different meanings. It is a new and useful idea. In particular, the prizes are all of great value in terms of prize money.