The Canadian winner of this 12 months’s Nobel Prize in physics is pouring a whole lot of hundreds of {dollars} from his winnings right into a small Ontario-based group.
The Canadian winner of this 12 months’s Nobel Prize in physics is pouring a whole lot of hundreds of {dollars} from his winnings right into a small Ontario-based group.
Geoffrey Hinton, a so-called godfather of synthetic intelligence, shouldn’t be boosting the most recent tech startup or funding an initiative to counter the hazards of AI that he so usually warns about.
He’s as an alternative serving to a bunch centered on one thing extra all the way down to Earth: supporting Indigenous Peoples in accessing recent water.
Sarah Jayne Kendall, neighborhood engagement director at Water First Training and Coaching Inc., stated she is grateful to Hinton for the substantial donation — but in addition for the eye he’s bringing to the group’s work.
“It actually speaks volumes to him being a person who’s using his platform to lift consciousness and assist for an ongoing subject that has been occurring all through this nation,” she stated.
About 13 per cent of First Nations communities in Canada are affected by a consuming water advisory. Water First says the proportion is 25 per cent in Ontario.
Kendall stated Hinton himself reached out to the group about his donation resolution.
The emeritus professor of laptop science on the College of Toronto received the Nobel Prize alongside John Hopfield, a professor at Princeton College, for his or her groundbreaking work on machine studying that paved the best way for AI.
The 2 have been named the winners in October and acquired the award at a ceremony on Tuesday.
Water First is anticipated to obtain a $350,000 donation from Hinton, representing about half of his share of the prize winnings. An unnamed charity that helps neurodiverse younger adults was additionally anticipated to get a lift from Hinton.
Kendall stated her group, based mostly in Creemore, Ont., northwest of Toronto, will use the cash to construct capability and develop operations throughout the nation.
“This donation will actually assist us deal with how we will proceed to increase our attain to any Indigenous communities who see worth in our work,” she stated.
The group’s consuming water packages, which deal with training and coaching, have to this point been centered on Ontario communities. That work expanded to Manitoba this 12 months, Kendall stated. She added that the charity additionally runs environment-focused packages in Ontario and Quebec.
“Our group continues to be a comparatively small group. We’ve grown significantly in the previous couple of years. However this donation will go in the direction of serving to us develop our attain even additional.”
Talking at a press convention in October shortly after he received the prize, Hinton stated he had initially deliberate to donate to a corporation that gives protected consuming water in Africa.
He modified his thoughts, he stated, after his accomplice recommended he assist the identical trigger in Canada.
Hinton stated it is good to see extra Canadians acknowledging Indigenous rights on the subject of land, however that does nothing to vary the scenario on the bottom and deal with the issue of water-borne ailments: “It would not cease the Indigenous children getting diarrhea.”
He praised Water First for making a “significantly better, long-term funding” as a result of it trains individuals on the right way to entry clear consuming water moderately than merely offering it.
“That appeared to me to be a superb factor to do,” he stated.
This report by The Canadian Press was first printed Dec. 10, 2024.
— With information from Tara Deschamps.
Sharif Hassan, The Canadian Press
