Arvind Krishna, CEO, chairman, and president of IBM, celebrated the work of Claude Shannon, a pioneering computer scientist and mathematician, in his acceptance speech at the TIME100 AI Impact Awards on Monday in Dubai. Krishna praised Shannon’s contributions to the field of information technology, calling him one of the “unsung heroes of today.” In 1948, Shannon published “A Mathematical Theory of Communication,” a transformative paper that proposed a simplified way of quantifying information via bits. This foundational work shaped the development of information technology and our modern era.
Krishna also highlighted Shannon’s work on building robotic mice that solved mazes, underscoring Shannon’s enjoyment of play within his research.
Artificial intelligence and Claude Shannon
Under Krishna’s leadership, IBM continues to carve its own niche in the tech world and invests heavily in quantum computing research.
The mission to build a machine based on quantum principles, which could carry out calculations much faster than existing computers, is one of IBM’s key goals. Krishna emphasized that Shannon’s “simple insights” have contributed significantly to the “most sophisticated communication systems” of today, including satellites. Speaking about Shannon’s theoretical work, Krishna noted, “I think we can give him credit for building the first elements of artificial intelligence.”
The TIME100 AI Impact Awards in Dubai were presented by the World Government Summit and the Museum of the Future.
Krishna accepted the award alongside musician Grimes, California Institute of Technology professor Anima Anandkumar, and artist Refik Anadol.
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