Geoffrey Hinton, whose share of the 2024 Nobel Prize in Physics amounts to about $700,000 Canadian, has donated half of his prize money to Water First, an organization that works with First Nations communities to solve their water crises.
Hinton revealed the news during a press conference following the Hinton Lectures, a two-part presentation on the future of artificial intelligence, in Toronto this week.
Although the moderator asked press to steer clear of questions about his Nobel Prize win this year, someone apologized for “breaking the rule” and asked him if he had any plans for the money.
“Yeah, that’s breaking the rules, but I’ll answer it anyway,” Hinton replied.
“So I’ve been to a lot of talks where they start off by saying who they stole the land from,” he said bluntly, referring to land acknowledgement statements which have become ubiquitous in recent years. “They don’t quite say that, but the people used to live there. And I think that’s good. I think it’s great that they’re recognizing that. But it doesn’t stop the Indigenous kids getting diarrhea.”
He continued: “So I gave half of my share of the Nobel Prize to an organization called Water First that educates Indigenous people in … water technology so they can provide safe drinking water. That seems to me to be a good thing to give it to.”
Hinton had originally thought to donate to water.org, a non-profit operating in Africa, co-founded by Matt Damon.
“And then my partner said, ‘Well, what about Canada?’ And then I discovered that Water First actually started off in Uganda, providing safe water in Uganda, and then went through the same process of, yeah, but what about the Indigenous community in Canada? Maybe we should do that.”
He added: “And they’re not giving them water. They’re giving them the training on how to make water safe themselves, which seems like a much better long-term investment.”
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