Ask HN: Why isn't Alex Krizhevsky as famous as Ilya Sutskever or G.Hinton?
Dec 25, 2024 - news.ycombinator.com
The article discusses why Alex Krizhevsky, despite being a key figure in the development of AlexNet, is not as well-known as his peers Ilya Sutskever and Geoffrey Hinton. It highlights that while AlexNet played a significant role in popularizing Nvidia GPUs for training, Krizhevsky's current focus on Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs) contrasts with the broader industry's shift towards transformers. Additionally, Krizhevsky was not involved in the OpenAI scandal associated with Sutskever, and he publishes fewer papers, resulting in fewer citations compared to his peers.
The article also emphasizes that the success of AlexNet was more about the fundamental breakthrough in neural networks rather than the specific hardware used, although Nvidia's GPUs became the dominant choice due to a lack of competitive alternatives. This distinction underscores Krizhevsky's contribution to the field, even if it hasn't translated into the same level of fame as his collaborators.
Key takeaways:
Alex Krizhevsky, despite being a key figure in the development of AlexNet, is not as widely recognized as Ilya Sutskever or Geoffrey Hinton.
One reason for his lesser fame is that he is working on Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs) while the current trend is towards transformers.
Alex Krizhevsky was not involved in the OpenAI scandal, which may have contributed to his lower public profile compared to Ilya Sutskever.
The success of AlexNet is attributed more to its fundamental breakthroughs in neural networks rather than its association with Nvidia's hardware.
