VinFuture Prize Council Talks About Its Decision to Honor Nvidia CEO
Báo Dân trí•07/12/2024
The VinFuture 2024 Main Prize honors businessman Jensen Huang, founder and CEO of Nvidia Corporation (USA), a non-academic figure, demonstrating VinFuture's multi-dimensional and different assessment.
Important contributions to the deep learning revolution On the evening of December 6, the VinFuture 2024 Main Prize worth 3 million USD named 5 individuals, including Prof. Yoshua Bengio (University of Montreal, Canada), Prof. Geoffrey E. Hinton (Vector Institute, Canada), Mr. Jensen Huang (Nvidia Corporation, USA), Prof. Yann LeCun (New York University, USA), and Prof. Fei-Fei Li (Stanford University, USA) for their groundbreaking contributions to promoting the advancement of deep learning. This is also a rare time for a representative from the industry to be honored at an international science and technology award - which is considered the stage of the research community.
The VinFuture 2024 Main Prize winners were honored for their groundbreaking contributions to advancing the advancement of deep learning (Photo: Organizing Committee).
Dr. Xuedong David Huang, Chief Technology Officer of Zoom Corporation (USA), Fellow of the US National Academy of Engineering, Member of the VinFuture Prize Council, said that the VinFuture Main Prize is a milestone to honor the deep learning revolution. The world's leading expert on AI affirmed that deep learning is a step forward for humanity, achieved thanks to three factors. First is the deep learning algorithm. This is the problem that Professors Geoffrey Hinton, Yann LeCun and Yoshua Bengio have been researching tirelessly to push the boundaries. However, according to him, the algorithm alone is not enough. The deep learning revolution that the world is witnessing requires a huge amount of data and an accelerated computing platform (GPU). Therefore, this year's VinFuture Main Prize also honors Professor Fei-Fei Li, who made fundamental contributions to ImageNet and the accompanying dataset. Dr. Huang highly appreciated the contribution of Mr. Jensen Huang, who pioneered in bringing the power of GPUs to the entire community. "The contribution of Nvidia's CEO is extremely important for the explosion of the deep learning revolution," Dr. Huang emphasized. Sharing the same view, Prof. Soumitra Dutta, University of Oxford (UK), member of the VinFuture Prize Council, assessed that AI is an explosive field in the past decade. This year's VinFuture Prize was awarded to individuals who have made significant contributions to the development of AI. According to him, in addition to honoring outstanding minds, VinFuture also did something important when recognizing that deep learning is not just algorithms. Deep learning is the crystallization of algorithms, data and hardware. "Without the pioneering resources from Nvidia, computational applications would not be able to run, and would not be able to produce extraordinary calculations or predictions and the rapid development of AI as we have witnessed," Prof. Soumitra Dutta analyzed. Having served as a member of the VinFuture Prize Council for 4 years, Professor Kostya S. Novoselov, University of Manchester (UK), admitted that deciding on the winning project was a difficult process. With this year's Main Prize, the VinFuture Scientific Council has achieved a high level of consensus to make the right decision to honor the technology that has changed the world in recent times. "Without the combined power of computing, modern GPUs and TPUs, specific databases and algorithms, such achievements would not have been possible," the 2010 Nobel Prize in Physics winner explained his "yes vote" for businessman Jensen Huang.
Nvidia Corporation CEO Jensen Huang: "I am honored to receive the VinFuture 2024 Main Prize" (Photo: Organizing Committee).
VinFuture - A Different Award As the person who directly nominated the CEO of Nvidia Corporation, Professor Monica Lam (Stanford University, USA), also found her nomination "a bit different from usual". She said that nominating hardware experts is a way to recognize the outstanding contributions of the technology industry. Nobel has honored people doing research on AI, but for AI to achieve such a profound impact, it is impossible without hardware. According to Professor Lam, the commercial success of businessman Jensen Huang is a clear demonstration of the importance of putting science into practice. "VinFuture gives fair recognition to everyone, not just outstanding individuals, that's why I nominated the CEO of Nvidia," Professor Lam revealed. Professor Richard Henry Friend, Chairman of the VinFuture Prize Council, once pointed out a new abnormality that has appeared in the past 50 years. That is the tendency to separate too much between those working in the industry and those who only do research. According to him, for the world to function well, it is necessary to connect both.
Professor Richard Henry Friend: "A different lens helps VinFuture find projects that can benefit millions of people around the world" (Photo: Organizing Committee).
In fact, after 4 seasons, VinFuture has demonstrated its superior vision and different approach when evaluating research, in a multidimensional relationship instead of just honoring individual studies. In season 1, the research that won the Grand Prize included two elements, mRNA and lipid nanoparticles, both of which are necessary to create mRNA vaccines. In 2022, with global network technology, VinFuture not only honors software or protocols but also recognizes the importance of both infrastructure and information transmission capabilities. Similarly, the VinFuture Grand Prize 2023 does not award individual inventions of solar cells or lithium-ion batteries. Instead, VinFuture honors a combination of inventions that create a sustainable foundation for green energy. And in season 2024, honoring a technology billionaire along with leading researchers continues to affirm VinFuture's distinct vision. “The unique lens that VinFuture uses to identify projects that can benefit millions of people around the world makes VinFuture unlike any other award,” said the 2010 Millennium Technology Prize winner.
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