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In the wake of Geoffrey Hinton’s 2024 Nobel Prize in Physics, former students and colleagues from the University of Toronto are sharing their favourite anecdotes about the “godfather of AI” – including one involving the classic Atari video game Asteroids.

Nick Frosst, a �Թϱ��� alumnus and co-founder of generative AI startup Cohere, said Hinton, University Professor Emeritus of computer science, once spoke of an intense, button-mashing session that left him with nerve damage.

“This kind of explains, perhaps, the way in which he types, which is still two fingers at a time,” said Frosst, who began working with Hinton as a �Թϱ��� undergraduate student and was his first employee at Google Brain.

He shared the story at a recent event hosted by the department of computer science in the Faculty of Arts & Science, saying it offered a telling glimpse into Hinton’s character.

“It’s that fever-pitched intensity, passion and playfulness that he brings to everything … He found something that was fun and engaging and he played it until it damaged a finger and then he continued to push for it.”

Frosst said he also appreciates Hinton’s thoughtful consideration about he helped create and praised him for looking past formal qualifications to spot potential and creativity.

“I don't have a master's degree or a PhD, but he was willing to work with me and I saw that in the types of people he brought into Google Brain to work with him,” Frosst said.

“He took lots of chances on people and gave them the time of day once they were there. And for that, I'll always be thankful and deeply privileged, and honoured, to have him in my life.”

Other former students at �Թϱ��� tell similar stories.

Chris Maddison, now an assistant professor in �Թϱ���’s departments of computer science and statistical sciences in the Faculty of Arts & Science, was also an undergraduate student when he started working with Hinton in 2011.  

He also painted a picture of Hinton’s vibrant office – where everyone knew when he had a new idea. 

“The excitement, the joy radiated out of his office down the hall. The air was buzzing with possibility,” said Maddison. “He was famous for bursting into a room and pronouncing that, he now finally, after all these years, understood how the brain worked.”

Kevin Swersky, a research scientist at Google DeepMind, worked with Hinton as a graduate student at �Թϱ��� and similarly described visiting Hinton as a memorable academic experience.

“Normally when you go to a supervisor's office, you give them a progress update. You go through what your latest results are, you talk about a couple of your ideas and you get some feedback,” he said.

“Going to Geoff’s office was a completely different story. He would be telling you what his latest idea was. He would show you his latest results. And his whole thing was just that he was really excited about it, and his hope was to inspire you enough to start running with it.”

He added that he was particularly inspired by Hinton’s focus on small, solvable puzzles that would ultimately lead to significant breakthroughs over time.

“Geoff would think completely intuitively – like the universe was a puzzle and he was just kind of figuring out where all the pieces went, and the math would always follow whatever he was talking about,” he said.

He also remarked on Hinton’s kindness.

“He offered to put me up for a few weeks,” he said of a time when he found himself looking for a place to stay in Toronto. “He offered to go and get dishes. I was thinking to myself, ‘Wow, Geoff Hinton wants to go out shopping for dishes for me so that I can be comfortable for a few weeks.’”

Frosst, too, has a Hinton home-making story: the AI luminary built him a desk from scratch.

“He's a carpenter,” Frosst said. “It’s a small wooden desk that fits in the corner of my room at home.

“That's where I keep my computer and work from.”