“AI Godfather” Hinton criticizes Sam Altman after winning the Nobel Prize: I am proud to have him fired for my students; Fudan University publishes a list of academic dishonesty for recommended graduate students | Research Circle Daily

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Fudan University has released a list of students who have been dishonest in their applications for graduate school recommendations, with students from Peking University and Tongji University also being listed.

Pengpai News reported that recently, Fudan University School of Management released a notice on the public disclosure of the "Dishonesty List" for the 2024 postgraduate recommendation for admission, which has attracted widespread attention and discussion.

A notice indicates that in the process of recommended admission for postgraduate study, there were four 2025 undergraduate students who engaged in extremely serious violations of integrity. Their dishonest behavior has severely affected their personal reputation and harmed the interests of the relevant colleges and other applicants. Additionally, there were six other students who were involved in serious violations of integrity during the recommended admission process. These ten students come from universities such as Peking University, Tongji University, Shanghai University of Finance and Economics, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Central University of Finance and Economics, and Fudan University. The Fudan School of Management stated that according to the commitment letter signed by the pre-admitted students and the school, the Fudan School of Management's Education Center for Bachelor's, Master's, and Doctoral students has taken varying degrees of action against students who unilaterally violated the terms of the commitment letter.

In recent years, with the increasing employment pressure on graduates, cases of recommended students reneging on their commitments have often attracted public attention. Fudan University School of Management had also previously released a similar list of dishonest recommended students. Some people believe that students who are conditionally admitted but then fail to enroll indeed have integrity issues, which might affect the admission opportunities of other students. However, others point out that the recommendation system gives students the right to choose among multiple schools, and choosing to reject the offer after being conditionally admitted is within the student's right to choose and should not be considered dishonest. Universities can complete their admissions process by implementing measures such as setting a deposit, extending the admission timeline, and conducting multiple rounds of admissions. (Pengpai News, The Beijing News commentary)

"The 'Father of AI' expressed his Nobel Prize acceptance speech: Success mainly relies on students, and I am very happy that one of them fired Sam Altman."

Photo of Geoffrey Hinton giving a speech in 2023 Source: collision.conf, CC BY 2.0

Newly crowned Nobel laureate in physics and "AI Godfather" Geoffrey Hinton expressed his gratitude to the students he has mentored at the University of Toronto in Canada when he made a speech on the day he received the award on October 8th. He emphasized the important role played by these students in assisting his work and career. He also mentioned that he is "especially proud" of his student Sam Altman, who was previously the Chief Scientist of OpenAI, for dismissing Ilya Sutskever.

In November 2023, Ilya Sutskever, who was then the Chief Scientist of OpenAI, along with senior members of the governance board, suddenly dismissed and removed CEO Sam Altman from the board, causing a major upheaval in the industry. However, under pressure from important shareholders like Microsoft, Altman quickly regained his position as CEO, and the OpenAI board also underwent reorganization. Sutskever himself then resigned from OpenAI in May of this year. Some industry insiders believe that this was a failed attempt by OpenAI to seek a balance between technological breakthroughs and AI safety.

Although Hinton has made key contributions to the development of deep learning and has been awarded a Nobel Prize for it, he himself holds strong concerns about the current safety issues surrounding AI. In his acceptance speech, Hinton stated, "At some point in the next 20 years, AI is going to get to the point where it's better than us, and we need to think carefully about what's going to happen then." Regarding Altman, who is currently working to transform OpenAI into a for-profit entity, Hinton's assessment is: "Sam Altman's concern for safety is far less than his focus on profits, which I think is unfortunate." (Fortune)

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This year, the Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded to the "Godfather of AI." An article explains in detail: The physics origin of AI that you must know.

Breaking news! OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has been fired and has resigned from the board of directors.

· Academic career

A survey of 400,000 people shows that within ten years of publishing their first paper, 50% of scholars will leave academia.

A study of nearly 400,000 researchers from 38 countries found that nearly one-third of scholars abandon research within five years of publishing their first paper, with this percentage increasing to nearly 50% after ten years. Additionally, the probability of female scholars dropping out is higher than that of male scholars, with the difference varying by discipline.

Researchers used data provided by the Scopus database to track the publication of scholars from the United States, Japan, South Korea, and various European countries representing 16 disciplines. This study included two groups of scholars: one group consisting of 142,776 scholars (52,115 females) who started publishing papers from the year 2000, and another group consisting of 232,843 scholars (97,145 females) who started publishing papers from the year 2010. The results showed that one-third of the scientists in the first group stopped publishing papers within 5 years of their first publication, which increased to nearly half within 10 years and two-thirds within 20 years. Among these, the proportion of female scholars was approximately 12% higher than male scholars. Data from the 2010 cohort indicated that around 41% of females and 42% of males were still active in research 9 years after their first publication. In the field of physics, the likelihood of women exiting after ten years was around 48%, which was similar to the 47% for men. Gender differences in fields such as mathematics, engineering, and computer science were also relatively small. However, in some areas, especially in the life sciences, gender differences were more pronounced: female researchers in biology had a 58% likelihood of leaving the scientific community ten years after their first publication, compared to nearly 49% for males. The relevant study was recently published in "Higher Education" (Nature News).

· Ecological Environment

The cost behind the precious ingredient "fish maw": the trade of fish bladder threatens endangered species.

The precious swim bladder of the yellow croaker fish. Source: research paper.

Fish maw, the dried swim bladder of various fish species, is considered a traditional medicinal material and a premium ingredient, especially in southern China. It is a key component of the Chinese delicacy known as "Four Treasures of the Sea" (abalone, shark fin, sea cucumber, fish maw), which has driven a sharp increase in global fish maw trade. According to a report from Nature News, an animal study team found that the fish maw trade in the Kikori River Delta in Papua New Guinea is posing a serious threat to the local ecosystem and endangered species.

The report states that in some developing countries, fish maw is referred to as the "drug of the sea" because its high profits attract organized crime activities. Among them, the fish maw of the Nibea squamosa in the Kikori River Delta is particularly precious, with a selling price of up to $15,615 per kilogram (approximately 1.1 million RMB). The indiscriminate fishing by fishermen not only affects the target fish species but also causes significant harm to non-target species. Commercial the use of gillnets has led to the bycatch of endangered or critically endangered species such as hammerhead sharks and giant guitarfish, further threatening local biodiversity. Although the fish maw trade brings certain benefits to the local economy, the research team believes that without effective management measures, local fisheries resources and ecosystems will face irreversible damage. (Source: Nature News)

Translation:
王珊 Wang Shan, 字 Xin Nan, 魏潇 Wei Xiao

Editor: Wei Xiao