Article content
Yoshua Bengio, founder and scientific director of the Montreal-based artificial intelligence institute known as Mila, has been named to Time Magazine’s Time100 list of the 100 most influential persons of 2024.
A graduate of McGill University, full professor at the Université du Montréal and a recipient in 2018 of the Turing Award, described as the “Nobel Prize of computing,” Bengio has along with colleagues Geoffrey Hinton and Yann Lecun been described as a “Godfather” of artificial intelligence. However if his research into AI has won him international renown, Bengio’s concerns over where AI may lead humanity has also made him a focus of public attention.
Article content
In a statement issued along with Wednesday’s announcement from Time, Bengio said that his inclusion in the list was a sign “that my public awareness efforts over the past year resonate, and that citizens, governments and the media increasingly understand the importance of urgently regulating the development and deployment of advanced AI systems.
“This awareness-raising work is essential because these powerful systems are already having a major impact on our lives and societies, and this trend will likely grow much faster over the next few years and decades,” he said.
In Time’s profile of Bengio, computer scientist Geoffrey Hinton writes that “throughout his career, Yoshua’s research has been instrumental in shaping the world’s understanding of AI’s potential — and that same expertise has made his perspective more essential than ever.”
Bengio will travel to New York City next week to attend the TIME100 Summit and gala.
Share this article in your social network
