AI pioneers, worldwide web founder named ACM fellows

The Association for Computer Machinery (ACM) has named artificial intelligence (AI) pioneers Geoffery Hinton, Yoshua Bengio, and Yann Lecun, worldwide web inventor Tim Berners Lee along with 64 others have been named ACM fellows for ‘transformative contributions’ to computer science and technology in 2023. 

ACM is one the largest and most prestigious non-profit associations for educational and scientific computing. Founded in 1947, ACM provides a platform for computing professionals, researchers, educators, and students to exchange ideas related to computer science and IT. ACM publishes journals and magazines, along with organising various conferences. Notably, the historic chess match between professional player Garry Kasparov and the IBM Deep Blue computer (which was won by the latter) in 1996 was organised by ACM.

An ACM fellow is the recognition accorded to the top 1% of the association’s members. Individuals with five years of continuous prfessioal membership in ACM, along with outstanding accomplishments in computing and information technology are eligible for being appointed as a fellow. Every year, ACM releases the list of ACM fellows, who represent universities, corporations, and research centers in Canada, China, Germany, India, Israel, Norway, Singapore, the United Kingdom, and the United States. 

“ACM is proud to include nearly 110,000 computing professionals in our ranks and ACM Fellows represent just 1% of our entire global membership. This year’s inductees include the inventor of the World Wide Web,the “godfathers of AI, and other colleagues whose contributions have all been important building blocks in forming the digital society that shapes our modern world,” said ACM President Yannis Ioannidis. 

This year’s list of fellows include professionals from the field of  algorithm design, computer graphics, cybersecurity, energy-efficient computing, mobile computing, software analytics, and web search, among others. The list also includes some fellows of Indian origin including Aditya Akella, Vineet Bafna, Nikhil Bansal, and Manik Varma.